


ad meliora (towards better things)

by starlistic



Series: nihil novi sub ra [1]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! - All Media Types, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga), Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Gen, it’s also got some funky shadow magic and duels that Don’t Follow The Rules, it’s not a chat fic but it has a couple of chat logs for flavor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-08-19
Packaged: 2020-09-02 10:42:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 34,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20274598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starlistic/pseuds/starlistic
Summary: When Blue-Eyes vanishes without a trace, Judai shoulders the responsibility to go looking for answers. He doesn’t expect a whole string of spirit-nappings and time hopping to follow, but hey, life’s all about the little surprises.[ BBT AU ]





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> first try at a big bang, woo! also my attempt at playing in a slightly altered version of GX events in the background, so don't mind things that don't quite seem to match up with canon; this is an AU for many a reason.
> 
> hope you enjoy!

**LOAD MORE MESSAGES**

**mini kaiser** | _ today at 2:13am _  
see you after the final round then, asuka?

**fubuki isn’t valid** | _ today at 2:13am _  
yeah  
good luck, we’re cheering for you!

**the gayest around** | _ today at 2:14am _  
sorry i wont make it :(  
ill be watching from the comfort of home tho

**mini kaiser** | _ today at 2:14am _  
thanks asuka!  
and it’s alright johan  
I know your schedule’s crazy lol  
those world timezones must suck

**the gayest around** | _ today at 2:16am _  
i am never not jetlagged and its awful

**dinosaurus** | _ today at 2:16am _  
rip

**THUNDER** | _ today at 2:21am _  
you wouldnt be if you had help  
isnt that right @not around to change his name >(  
@not around to change his name >(  
@not around to change his name >(  
@not around to change his name >(

**fubuki isn’t valid** | _ today at 2:21am _  
if only pinging people actually summoned them from the abyss.  
oh wait, that’s what it’s supposed to do @not around to change his name >(

**the gayest around** | _ today at 2:22am _  
that reminds me  
we still need to ask judai if notifications cap out at 99+ or if it just Keeps Going

**THUNDER** | _ today at 2:23am _  
@not around to change his name >( answer us asshole  
if we snail mailed with ojama yellow it’d probably reach him faster ugh

**the gayest around** | _ today at 3:46am _  
um  
i know im usually the substitute expert on spirit sensing stuff but  
has anyone else felt. weird?

**cookodile** | _ today at 3:49am _  
weird how?

**the gayest around** | _ today at 3:49am _  
weird wrong  
weird spirit wrong

**cookodile** | _ today at 3:50am _  
karen had a digestion issue last night but I doubt that’s relevant.

**fubuki isn’t valid** | _ today at 3:51am _  
shou said cyber end was kind of jittery  
but we thought it was just pre-duel nerves

**the gayest around** | _ today at 3:58am _  
hm.  
okay  
maybe it’s nothing…

* * *

Judai yawns, feet dangling over the edge of the roof.

It feels like it’s been ages since he last visited Duel Academia. Not much has changed, as far as the important things go. There’s a new class, new students enrolled, new professors hired, new buildings and structures being constructed while he was away — but reality is still weaker here, still tingling with faint echoes of gods and demons, even though it’s been years since either stepped foot here.

Present company excluded, that is. Judai still isn’t sure if he counts as one or the other.

What he does know is that putting a spiritual powerhouse on a dimension faultline is a bad idea, regardless of who’s responsible for weakening reality here in the first place, so it would probably be best to take leave as soon as possible. 

Unfortunately, his rendezvous isn’t here yet.

_ ‘He’s late,’ _ Yubel murmurs, impatient. They stand a little ways further up the roof, where the slope comes to its highest point. Even to Judai’s eyes, they’re nearly invisible against the black of the night sky, just translucent enough to look studded with stars shaded purple.

“He’s probably trying to get Pharaoh moving,” Judai says. “Or maybe he didn’t expect us this late. This early? Dawn’s coming up pretty soon.”

_ ‘You should’ve just brought the cat with you.’ _

“I couldn’t, it was too dangerous.” 

Yubel scoffs, their disbelief brushing past Judai’s thoughts. _ ‘It was _ not _ that dangerous. You’re just softer than you could be.’ _

Judai shrugs. It’s true and he doesn’t regret it, no matter how much they disapprove. Softness isn’t weakness, not to him. But before their conversation continues, he hears the telltale chirp of his other partner returning. 

Winged Kuriboh flits into view, bringing a smile to his lips as it waves at him. As it flies closer, a brief shuffle of something scrambling across the roof follows closely. An old cat comes trotting merrily towards him with a mrrow of greeting as Judai thanks Winged Kuriboh and the spirit returns to its card.

“There you are,” Judai says, and reaches out a hand. Pharaoh bumps his head against it and purrs, soft and warm. “Did the kids treat you well?”

The cat meows again, and this time a little golden orb floats out from between his teeth. It shimmers, and quickly changes into the translucent form of Judai’s old dorm leader. _ ‘Welcome back, Judai-kun!’ _ Daitokuji says. _ ‘You managed to get back before students left for break, so Pharaoh’s been spoiled plenty. How did your visit go?’ _

“Not as bad as I expected,” Judai says.

_ ‘Worse than I feared,’ _ Yubel deadpans, making the professor frown. _ ‘He got scratched up because he wouldn’t let anyone defend him. Wouldn’t defend himself, either.’ _

Judai hums, lifting Pharaoh into his lap. Something in his expression lingers on sorrow as he thinks back to how most villagers just avoided him. One particular spirit had enacted a desperate, futile attempt at vengeance, eyes too swelled with tears to score more than a glancing hit on Judai. _ You killed my family, my friends, my community, my home. Murderer! How could _ you _ be our next King? _

He’d let the spirit throw itself at him in blind grief, hushing Yubel’s protest in the depths of their shared soul.

Their indignation is more than reasonable. Sometimes, he still wonders about it himself; why _ had _ he been crowned successor? Just because he has more power to protect with — just because he’s tied to the dark more closely than anything else in existence — doesn’t mean he’s better at protecting the worlds, necessarily.

Maybe Yugi had made a mistake.

A flutter of soft feathers brushes the thought away, Winged Kuriboh reminding him not to follow that line of thought. Instead, Judai considers that even though he can’t change his status, he can do his best to follow through with it.

“Don’t be overdramatic, Yubel,” he says before they can continue ranting about his questionable life decisions. “It was just a scratch. They couldn’t hurt me if they tried.”

_ ‘The fact that any spirit dared to raise a hand against you at all—’ _

“Yubel, please.”

_ ‘Oh dear,’ _ Daitokuji says. _ ‘You weren’t received warmly, then?’ _

Of course not, Judai thinks. Who would ever welcome back their tyrant, regardless of who or what was in control at the time? Pharaoh begins kneading at his thighs, and though he doesn’t mind the needle-prick of claws on his lap, he buries his hands in the cat’s thick fur for reassurance. “I didn’t expect to be welcomed,” Judai says. “A lot of them are still scared, but they at least let me help rebuild a little. I promised I wouldn’t interfere very much. Anyway, it’s done now. How long were we gone?”

_ ‘Just over four weeks.’ _

“Cool, not too long.” Time fluctuates strangely between worlds, sometimes, and it doesn’t help that Judai’s perception has been skewed ever since remembering parts of his past… lives? Existences? He grimaces faintly, recalling his friends’ worried anger when he’d vanished for nearly an entire season. “Maybe I won’t get a lecture this time.”

Daitokuji laughs at him. _ ‘Have you considered bringing the rest of us along next time? I’d love to see the dark world, personally. There’s only so much to do here at the Red dorm when I’m a ghost and Osiris doesn’t visit anymore.’ _ He smiles at Judai’s half-hearted shrug of response. _ ‘Your friends came looking for you again, by the way,’ _ he adds casually. Gently. _ ‘I told Johan-kun I’d send word when you returned.’ _

“He’s still working on getting a school for spirit speakers, isn’t he?” Judai perks up. ”How’s that been coming along?” 

_ ‘If you talked to him, you’d know,’ _ Daitokuji responds cheekily. _ ‘They bought you a phone for a reason.” _

“I’ve been leaving it off for a reason,” Judai says, but obligingly pulls his bag closer to rummage through it. “I don’t really get reception in other worlds.” The mobile he pulls out is out cold, having been turned off for ages, but he has no doubt that he’ll be flooded with missed messages the moment it’s turned on.

He’s not avoiding his friends on purpose (anymore), and he does miss them dearly. But the title of King is a heavy crown, especially for someone who’d nearly torn apart one of the worlds he was supposed to protect. Ensuring that the dark world is on the mend, that _ reality _ is on the mend, after Super Fusion nearly ripped everything out of place and the Cube worsened the situation, is his first priority.

Yubel hums, amusedly watching Pharaoh bat at the phone like a toy while Judai holds it out of reach. _ ‘Did they forget that their spirits could pass the word more quickly?’ _

_ ‘That’s their last resort, for emergencies only,’ _ Daitokuji says. _ ‘They know your duties are important.’ _

“Well, I’m here now.” Judai tries to turn his phone on, but the screen stays black. The battery must be out. Figures. He’ll have to find someplace to charge it later, maybe when he drops by his friends. “I’ll see them soon enough. I just need to check on one more thing before that.”

Daitokuji makes a disapproving noise, but doesn’t protest outright. _ ‘Are you going alone this time, too?’ _

“I’m never alone,” Judai reminds, grinning as he tips his head at Yubel and pats his deck holster. “But no, you’re coming along. Winged Kuriboh’s a little worried about some rumors of another spirit hunter going around, so I want to check that out real quick.”

_ ‘And somehow this is less dangerous than confronting a few otherworldly residents? The last time you fought a hunter, you didn’t come away from it unscathed,’ _ Daitokuji says.

That’s an understatement; he’d barely come out of that incident in one piece. Judai remembers quite vividly the unpleasant surprise of an experienced hunter who’d been _ prepared _ to fight the King of Spirits, and he isn’t keen on repeating that kind of confrontation. His victory scared off most other hunters, at least. “If I find them, and that’s a big if, I won’t just rush in,” Judai says. “I’m just taking a peek. Just to see if there’s anything to be worried about.”

Yubel cackles. _ ‘And he won’t stop us from protecting him from a hunter,’ _ they tell Daitokuji, referring not only to themselves but also the many spirits slumbering in Judai’s deck. _ ‘I personally won’t let any harm come to him.’ _

“My knight in shining armor,” Judai jokes, playing with Pharaoh’s ears until the cat clambers out of his lap with a disdainful meow. He stands, stretches a bit, and slings his backpack over a shoulder. “C’mon, the sooner we finish this, the sooner I can—”

His soul jerks, stopping the words in his throat. Yubel hisses in discomfort as the jolt passes through them as well, their form flickering.

_ ‘Judai?’ _ Daitokuji asks, alarmed.

Ice snakes through Judai’s veins for an instant, stinging, and then abates. A faint chill remains, indicating that something has disturbed the Gentle Darkness severely enough to affect its herald.

That’s… probably not good. “Hold on,” Judai says, narrowing his eyes. He focuses on that whisper of alarm attached to the darkness in his soul, winding his shadows around it until it clarifies into something a little more informative. It’s impossible to determine the exact cause, but at least he can find out where it came from.

Kind of. He gets the sensation of a soft glow, like crystal waters pooled beneath dripping stalactites. Like faeries drifting through illuminated tunnels, casting dappled blue light against slick rock walls.

“The light world,” he and Yubel say in sync.

Yubel cocks their head to the side, and adds, _ ‘Strange. But at least it’s not here.’ _

Daitokuji hesitates, a mix of disappointment and worry threaded through his faint shadows. _ ‘Your friends will have to wait, then.’ _

“Someone probably just punched through a portal too hard,” Judai says, but doesn’t sound like he believes it. He clicks his tongue, calling Pharaoh back over. “Besides, it’s close. We’ve got a direct path to the light world in the hot springs, right? It’ll be fast.”

Or so he hopes. The Gentle Darkness is old and powerful, but like all old and powerful forces, it’s largely latent. The fact that it reacted to anything at all doesn’t bode well.

Judai looks to Daitokuji. “Are you coming with us or not?”

In lieu of responding, Daitokuji reverts to his orb form. Pharoah leaps in an instant, swallowing him up and landing with grace. His tail flicks from side to side in satisfaction, purring as he rubs against Judai’s legs.

_ ‘Gross,’ _ Yubel says as Judai leans down to clip a leash onto the cat’s collar. _ ‘I’d never want to be stuck in something living.’ _

Judai raises a brow at them and gestures at himself.

_ ‘You didn’t _ eat _ me, we’re bound. That’s different.’ _

“Daitokuji-sensei isn’t bound to anything, so you’ll have to forgive him,” Judai says, snickering. He scoops up Pharaoh and looks around, making sure that nobody’s around to see him. Contributing to the academy’s spooky rumor pool is one thing, but being reported as a student out past curfew will only tack another hour onto the lecture he’s sure to receive from Chronos the next time they meet. 

Judai swings down from the roof’s edge and lands lightly on the Red dorm’s second floor, pausing just long enough to check that nobody noticed the _ tap _ of his shoes on wood.

From there, it’s easy enough to step into the nearest shadow and let himself drop into it, darkness swallowing him up in an instant.

Traveling through shadows isn’t Judai’s favorite thing to do, but it’s useful when he needs to cross great distances in a short amount of time. Or when doesn’t want to be seen wandering the school grounds so late at night. All he has to do is focus on what he’s looking for (in this case, the warm steam of water saturated with spirit energy, thermal vents leaking quietly into other worlds) and will himself there.

The shadows pull him along until he feels close enough to his destination, at which point he pulls himself out with a twist of a thought. He emerges into the large but humid room, gently brushing off the darkness as he steps away. Some of it seeps into his shadow, deepening it, as he looks around.

He could’ve ducked straight from the shadows into the portal, but he wants to check its stability first, just in case.

He’s just got a bad feeling about that slowly fading wariness in his soul.

It’s still dark outside, with no lights on the domed glass ceiling, so a normal person wouldn’t be able to see anything. Luckily, Judai is not a normal person. He can feel where most of the objects sit in the dark, his intrinsic connection to the darkness letting him sense the edges of rocks and trees long before he gets close enough to touch anything. While it’s enough to get him to the water’s edge without tripping over or bumping into anything, it otherwise doesn’t give him much information.

To find out what’s actually going on, Judai lets his eyes flash orange-green with Yubel’s power. Immediately, the faint shimmer of spirit energy glinting in the steam becomes visible, along with a steadier glow shining from beneath the water. It could be passed off as the moon’s reflection, but the moon’s hidden tonight, tucked behind a cover of dark clouds.

Pharaoh meows, wriggling in his grip, but Judai calms him by squishing him securely against his chest as he eyes the portal.

Judai isn’t one for light, obviously, but the light world isn’t so bad. He crouches, shifting the cat’s weight to one arm and dipping the other’s fingers into the illuminated spring, and reaches his shadows towards the portal.

It seems steady, or as steady as natural portals ever are.

_ ‘Maybe Blue-Eyes will know something about what happened,’ _ Yubel says. _ ‘This is close to her preferred resting point, isn’t it?’ _

“And where I first met her, yeah.”

The bottom of a hot spring isn’t a very accessible crossover point, but Judai skips having to drench himself and his cat by diving into the darkness instead, shadow traveling the short distance to the portal and pushing through from there.

Crossing from one world to the other isn’t nearly as easy as travelling between places on the same world, even with the shadows’ help. The first time Judai crossed here, he’d been pulled in by Blue-Eyes. Nowadays, he has to get in on his own power, pressing his darkness against the weak point between worlds until it buckles under his will and lets him pass.

Judai slides out of the darkness in a puff of fog once he crosses over, sine the light world isn’t exactly thick with shadows. Pharaoh mrrps unhappily at the sudden shift in gravity and brightness, claws digging into his sleeves.

“It’s okay,” Judai murmurs absently, scratching him behind the ears and looking around. The cat stills for a moment, and then squirms out of his grip — the name tag on his collar jangles as he lands.

Judai gives Pharaoh an indulgent look, tightening his hold on the leash, but otherwise lets the cat be.

At first glance, the light world seems the same. Stone columns slope gently from the ceiling to the floor, thinner in the middle but stronger than they look. Judai knows from experience that they can sustain quite a bit of impact without crumbling. That doesn’t mean a battle wouldn’t leave scars, though, and Judai sees nothing of the sort. The stone is unmarred, still smooth and slick with eons of water smoothing the edges away.

But the shadows are disturbed, displeased with something. More importantly, there are no duel spirits in sight. This place is something of a sanctuary; there should always be at least a few small ones peeking around the corners. 

Judai’s never seen it so still.

“Hello?” Judai calls. His voice carries with a small echo through the cavern, but nothing responds. “Is anyone here? Blue-Eyes? It’s just me!”

Still nothing. 

Yubel hisses over his shoulder, nearly bristling. _ ‘I don’t like this.’ _

Neither does Judai. He looks down at Pharaoh, who sniffs the air and warily begins examining the stone, and then glances back at Yubel. “Blue-Eyes would’ve raised hell if an intruder came,” he says. “Kaibaman should be here to keep guard, too. Where is everyone?”

_ ‘You don’t think a hunter stumbled in?’ _ Yubel narrows their eyes.

Judai hesitates. “She’s handled hunters before,” he says. Blue-Eyes isn’t invincible, but nobody knows she’s here. Even the most reckless spirit hunters who’d dare set their eyes on the brilliant dragon would assume she’d be with Kaiba, not watching over a cluster of low-level, low-ATK spirits under a hot spring. 

As for the few who _ have _ made their way here… well. Surprise has always been her best weapon against unwelcome visitors. 

They never live to tell the tale.

Judai glances at his deck. “What do you think, aibou?”

At his call, Winged Kuriboh emerges from its card. Ruffling its feathers, the spirit makes a contemplative noise as it looks around. “Kuri!” it calls, hovering a few paces away. “Kuri! Kuri…”

Something shifts, ever so slightly. It’s not the physical world but its shadow that twitches, and Judai stills, trying to pinpoint where it had come from. Yubel, being more in tune with the lowercase-d darkness, locates it faster. _ ‘There!’ _

A mental nudge shifts Judai’s gaze in the right direction, and he spots a flicker of movement in the back of the cavern before it stills. He cocks his head, glancing at Winged Kuriboh, who blinks back.

“Kuri,” his partner chirps, slowly heading in that direction. Hopefully, Winged Kuriboh’s unassuming and friendly presence will help draw out whatever’s hiding.

Judai keeps quiet, waiting until a soft tinkling of a fairy’s hesitant voice reaches his ears. It’s not until Winged Kuriboh croons again that the spirit emerges from its hiding spot, however.

Soft blue wings unfurl nervously from a round pink body — it’s a Petit Angel, peering at Winged Kuriboh and Judai with trepidation.

“Hey there,” Judai says, keeping his voice low. “We won’t hurt you, it’s okay. You don’t have to come closer if you don’t want. Do you know what happened here?”

Approval nudges at the edge of his thoughts. Yubel’s been trying to coach him through not offending literally every spirit he comes across, and the fact that he didn’t completely screw up this conversation from the start means their guidance hasn’t been for nothing.

Judai suppresses a slight grin as the little spirit trills at Winged Kuriboh, too softly for him to overhear. After a few moments, Winged Kuriboh nods and flies back to Judai with Petit Angel following along, albeit slower.

“Kurikuri,” his partner says, hopping up to Judai’s shoulder.

It takes another couple of seconds for the Petit Angel to work up the nerve, but it hesitantly begins telling Judai what it knows. Which, unfortunately, isn’t much.

Most of the spirits that normally reside here have scattered deeper in the world of light — but not because they saw any violence. Blue-Eyes told them to hide, and nobody thought to question her decision. Nobody saw what happened after, either, even though they’d all felt that _ twitch _ of wrongness in the shadows.

That’s the only reason this little spirit had come back, looking for its protector. But there’d been no sign of her.

Judai begins thinking it over, trying to think of where the dragon could’ve gone, but Yubel pulls him out of his thoughts for a moment — reminding him that he hasn’t dismissed the increasingly nervous fairy.

“You’re very brave,” Judai tells the Petit Angel. “Thank you, you’re free to go.”

Winged Kuriboh coos and waves as it eagerly vanishes back into the shadows. Then, pawing at Judai’s hair, the winged spirit makes a questioning noise.

_ ‘Definitely not as much as we hoped,’ _ Yubel agrees. _ ‘Still… Blue-Eyes saw it coming.’ _

“Yeah, that’s gotta mean something. If only we could ask her.” Judai glances around, searching for some kind of clue.

_ ‘If it were an intruder, perhaps she chased them into another world?’ _

He hums, watching Winged Kuriboh float lower to play with Pharaoh. “Maybe,” he says, as Pharaoh bats a sheathed paw at the spirit.

Usually, high-leveled spirits like Blue-Eyes have trouble traversing worlds without proper summoning, and doing so would leave a traceable mark. The shadows here bear only past traces of Blue-Eyes, and he suspects that she must have moved quite far, quite suddenly, but maybe not as far as a whole other world. Even when he lets his eyes shift from orange-green to flat gold, tapping more deeply into the Gentle Darkness, he can’t find any trail in the shadows.

Pharaoh meows imperiously at Winged Kuriboh, and in doing so, releases Daitokuji’s soul from his stomach. 

_ ‘Oh, good,’ _ the professor says. _ ‘I was afraid Pharaoh might not let me out in time to see this place.’ _

“You’ll have plenty of time to take it in,” Judai says. “I want to check the area a little more closely, see if Blue-Eyes left any hints or anything.” Not that she normally does. Hints tend to be for things without the brute force needed to dive headfirst into the issue, and Blue-Eyes has _ plenty _ of brute force. 

_ ‘The dragon? Wouldn’t she be with Kaiba, if not here?’ _

“Usually, but we were just there. If she dragged the problem over to the human world, I would’ve felt it.”

Yubel chuckles, finally materializing at Judai’s back. They’d refrained from manifesting out of Judai’s soul earlier, to avoid scaring the Petit Angel, but now they languidly stretch out their wings as they agree, “You definitely would’ve felt it. She’s not exactly subtle, considering her duelist’s tendencies.”

_ ‘Maybe your friends have seen her?’ _ Daitokuji suggests. _ ‘They’d be more than willing to check in with you, you know.’ _

Judai glances at his bag. “I guess so,” he admits, not nearly as reluctant as he sounds. Half of him hates to involve them in an issue that falls squarely on his shoulders, but the other half is relieved to have backup. “Hey, do you think Sparkman could charge my phone while I’m here? I want to give them a call once I get back to the Academia.”

* * *

**LOAD MORE MESSAGES**

**enjouyin ** | _ today at 5:38am _  
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

**fubuki isn’t valid ** | _ today at 5:38am _  
stop that

**enjouyin ** | _ today at 5:39am _  
( ͡° ʖ̯ ͡°)

**not around to change his name >(** | _ today at 6:13am _  
@everyone have any of you seen blue eyes?

**the gayest around** | _ today at 6:13am _  
HE LIVES

**fubuki isn’t valid** | _ today at 6:13am _  
HE LIVES

**dinosaurus** | _ today at 6:13am _  
HE LIVES!!

**THUNDER** | _ today at 6:13am _  
wow he lives

**cookodile** | _ today at 6:13am _  
HE LIVES

**enjouyin ** | _ today at 6:13am _  
hE LIVES

**old man kaiser** | _ today at 6:14am _  
not even a hello, I see.

**D for DESTINY, you guys** | _ today at 6:14am _  
He lives

**Koala-tea art** | _ today at 7:39pm _  
HE LIVES!

**O’Burn** | _ today at 6:14am _  
He only comes back for crises, doesn’t he.

**not around to change his name >(** | _ today at 6:14am _  
i missed you all too!  
wish i could visit right now but uh

**the gayest around** | _ today at 6:14am _  
is something wrong?

**not around to change his name >(** | _ today at 6:14am _  
this is a little bit urgent  
yeah  
something weird’s going on

**the gayest around** | _ today at 6:14am _  
I KNEW IT

**not around to change his name >(** | _ today at 6:14am _  
i think something happened near blue eyes’ hot spring, but i can’t find anything  
i couldn’t even find blue eyes to ask her  
she’s gone  
doesn’t look like a battle but other spirits r scared  
anyone know where she went?

**the gayest around** | _ today at 6:15am _  
none of us have seen her

**THUNDER** | _ today at 6:15am _  
same here. you sure you didn’t just miss her?

**fubuki isn’t valid** | _today at 6:15am_  
how do you miss an _entire_ _blazing white dragon_  
hold on fubuki just yelled

**Koala-tea art** | _ today at 6:15am _  
strange that @mini kaiser hasn’t come online yet… 

**dinosaurus** | _ today at 6:15am _  
@mini kaiser dude! aniki’s back!!

**old man kaiser** | _ today at 6:16am _  
he’s probably napping off the tournament stress.

**enjouyin** | _ today at 6:16am _  
hey I just checked my deck and red eyes is mad

**dinosaurus** | _ today at 6:16am _  
uh oh

**enjouyin** | _ today at 6:16am _  
very very mad  
@not around to change his name >( judai explain  
judai  
judai she’s so angry what does this mean

**cookodile** | _ today at 6:19am _  
he’s offline again

**THUNDER** | _ today at 6:19am _  
are you _ kidding _

**the gayest around** | _ today at 6:20am _  
judai?  
noooo @not around to change his name >( talk to us

**THUNDER** | _ today at 6:20am _  
just drop a bombshell and leave us hanging why don’t you

* * *

Judai shrugs his bag over a shoulder, easily overlooking the faint buzz of his phone receiving a brand new cascade of notifications. The cat safely secured in the bag (with his head poking out, of course) doesn’t overlook it nearly as easily, though. Pharaoh _ mrrps _ in displeasure and paws the phone deeper into the bag, pushing it under layers of clothes until it’s fully muffled.

It probably won’t be found for a while, especially since Judai’s thoughts are elsewhere.

Fubuki had reminded him of the direct contrast to the white dragon’s power: the black dragon’s potential. If one goes missing, then surely it follows that something might happen to the other. Especially if it’s a targeted attack.

He asks Yubel, “Red-Eyes likes the mountains, right? Or fire?” Judai has fought a Red-Eyes over the open maw of a volcano once before, but as to whether or not the spirit normally prefers such terrain when it’s not being summoned by a possessed duelist… 

_ ‘They like staying with their duelists, I think.’ _ Yubel makes a mental approximation of a shrug. _ ‘Fubuki just spoke to his.’ _

“But she’s not the only Red-Eyes around,” Judai murmurs. That one’s probably fine, but the fact that she’s angry worries him. Fubuki could keep an eye on her — but what about the older Red-Eyes, who doesn’t always hover over her duelist?

Judai runs a couple of fingers over his deck, trying to think. The earth world’s mountains might be a good starting place, since dragons tend to like that landscape, but the fire world has molten rock in abundance, and Red-Eyes seems to like heat. It’s where some of their fusion components live, too. Maybe.

He wishes he’d thought to memorize where his friends’ partners liked to stay. 

“I haven’t checked in with Jounouchi in a while — is he still in Domino City?”

Yubel, who never really cared enough about other humans to keep track of them, makes a noncommittal sound. _ ‘Only one way to find out. Or you can just ask around, actually; Red-Eyes isn’t exactly obscure, as far as spirits go.’ _

Judai perks up. “Oh, that’s a good idea. Maybe I should visit Sara.” The Gravekeeper’s Assassin spirit has been keeping in touch with Fubuki more often, mostly by passing messages to his deck spirits, so maybe she’d have an idea of where a Red-Eyes Black Dragon like his would normally dwell.

The part of the earth world she lives in borders a couple of volcanoes, too. They’re inactive for the most part, but accessing the fire world should still be easier from there.

Yubel hums their assent to the plan, so Judai sets off.

The portal in the ruins near Duel Academia isn’t nearly as active or as stable as the one in the hot springs, but it’s still better than punching a whole new hole in the already weak and hole-riddled reality stretched thin over the island. 

It’s a smoother trip than the one he took to the hot springs, and simpler as well. One of the benefits of being on good terms with a world’s spirits is that Judai doesn’t need to hide or step especially carefully, and the other spirits don’t see any reason to hide from him, either. He just walks straight into the ruins, nodding at the spirits standing guard and patrolling the perimeter. 

Unlike the first time he’d visited, when he’d accidentally or less-than-accidentally stumbled in with his friends, the guards know him to be a friend rather than a threat.

It took a bit of getting used to, admittedly, since they’re pretty set in their ways, but Judai’s pleased to see that they don’t eye him like they’re just itching to poke him with their spears anymore.

_ ‘That,’ _ Yubel interjects, _ ‘might be because of what happened to the last spirit who did that.’ _

They sound calm, but Judai knows well enough to see past the facade to the core of smug pride. _ You overreacted, _ Judai replies, calling up the memory of Yubel’s scales wrapping around his skin, fingers turned to talons that shoved back the offender and snapped the spear in half.

_ ‘Only because _ you _ weren’t paying attention to your surroundings,’ _ Yubel says. They pull the memory back a little, rewinding it, revealing that in the seconds before Yubel’s retaliation, Judai had jumped nearly three feet in the air with a completely unguarded look of shock on his face.

Judai rolls his eyes, not interested in rehashing the treads of an old argument. “That’s not grounds for you to start a fight with the whole guard,” he murmurs under his breath, and then spots the spirit he’s looking for. “Oh, hey! Sara!”

Having spotted him already, she grins and jumps down the rest of the descending stairs until she reaches him at the base of the staircase. “Judai, it’s good to see you.”

“Same to you! Looks like everything’s still good here.”

“Yes, it’s been quite peaceful. What brings you to our ruins? The Chief is currently busy, if you seek his guidance.”

Unsurprising. Seems like the Chief is _ always _ busy unless some trespasser gets caught on the sacred grounds. Maybe he’s trying to avoid Judai specifically, but Judai doesn’t know why any of his allies would _ ever _ avoid him on purpose. He’s an absolute delight to his friends. 

_ ‘You’re a menace,’ _ Yubel says, fondly, and Judai withholds a laugh.

“Actually, I wanted to ask you something,” he tells Sara. “I’m looking for Jounouchi’s Red-Eyes Black Dragon, she’s a bit older than Fubuki’s. Do you know where she might be? Or keep an eye out for her, at least?”

Sara blinks, and then narrows her eyes to think. “Well… I’m not sure about that dragon specifically, but I’ve seen one visiting the volcanoes between our world and the fire world on occasion. It’s been a while, though,” she adds. “Is something wrong with her duelist?”

“Not that I know of.” He scratches his cheek, somewhat sheepishly. “I need to talk to him, though, and you know how it is with me. Better with spirits. Anyway, thanks — and if you see anything…” 

“I’ll be sure to send a message along,” she promises.

Relieved, Judai grins and takes a step back, drawing a card from his deck. Air Hummingbird’s thoughts brush against his, eager to stretch its wings. “Tell Tanya and Misawa I said hi!”

“They won’t be coming around here for another couple of months,” Sara informs, amused. “You’ll probably see them again before I do.”

“Don’t be so sure about that,” he says cheerfully. He summons Air Hummingbird, which whips up a slight stir of wind before it settles down again. “Anyway, it was good to visit. Take care, Sara!”

Sara laughs, waving at him. “Same to you, King.”

He makes a face at the title. But judging from the look on her face, she’s teasing him with it on purpose, unlike the spirits that grovel at his feet for fear of retribution, so he doesn’t bother telling her to knock it off. It’s actually kind of nice, knowing that she’s so unintimidated. “Yeah, yeah. Bye.”

“Good luck.”

* * *

Judai’s high spirits don’t last very long, though.

With Air Hummingbird’s help, the trip to the mountains only takes minutes. As they approach, Judai gets the feeling that something’s wrong again — aren’t there normally more spirits flying around the summit? Like the light world’s underground sanctuary, the normally populated cliffs are completely empty. 

And then he sees the craters in the ground.

The earth is pockmarked with blast and impact marks all over the place. Most look shallow, but some of them pierce so deep that molten rock simmers there in the center, a deep and angry red like an infected gash. Judai makes sure to steer clear of those as he lands, and when he tries to dismiss Air Hummingbird, the Neo Spacian raises a skeptical brow at him.

“Danger lurks here,” Air Hummingbird says, contesting his decision. “Leaving your field empty would be foolish, Judai.”

“I can take care of myself,” Judai replies indignantly, but lets the hero remain material as he traverses the torn earth. 

The heat emanating from the area has him sweating in minutes. He feels a little bad for Pharaoh, but that cat has braved the Light-ruined desert world before. In comparison, this is practically nothing.

Still, he keeps an ear out for any hint of distress, though he’s fairly certain the cat’s gone back to napping. Daitokuji’s out, thankfully not corporeal enough to feel the heat. The professor just converses with Air Hummingbird a little.

Judai closes his eyes for a moment, focusing. When he inhales, the darkness swells with him, letting him pick out more subtle hints that stand out from its depths.

There’s a familiar trail of what _ feels _ like Red-Eyes. Sharpened onyx, black fire, rubies ablaze…

Judai walks into a mouthful of feathers.

Immediately, he blinks his eyes open and backpedals. Yubel’s presence cackles amusement at him and Air Hummingbird glances over its shoulder as though to say, _ see? _ The spirit furls its wing after a moment, pulling it away from where it had splayed it to stop Judai from stumbling into an especially deep crater.

He doesn’t need to go into it to notice that Red-Eyes’ trail ends there.

“Huh,” Judai says. “Definitely a battle, this time.”

Air Hummingbird nods. “Do you want to find someone and ask?”

_ ‘There might be more spirits around the outskirts,’ _ Yubel suggests. _ ‘This looks fresh enough and large enough that most others would have been spooked off.’ _

They’re right, as it turns out, but the residents are too on edge to be of much help, and they’re nothing like the softer, kind-hearted fae dwelling in Blue-Eyes’ sanctuary.

A Meteor Dragon in particular cranes its head up to watch him approach. It hisses, “So much for your protection,” and leaves before he can ask else anything of it.

Yubel snarls at the dragon’s disrespect, but Judai is quiet, thinking of the scorch marks on the ground, the battle scars scattered throughout the mountain. 

“I hope Jounouchi’s okay,” he says.

_ ‘You need to get them back,’ _ Yubel insists fiercely. They’ve never cared about other people, but they do care about spirits and bonds and partners. _ ‘Those spirits cannot be kept from their chosen.’ _

“I know.”

_ ‘What kind of hunter can take Red-Eyes _ and _ Blue-Eyes within hours of each other?’ _ Daitokuji asks, wringing his wrists nervously.

Judai narrows his eyes. “We’re going to find out.”

* * *

**LOAD MORE MESSAGES**

**THUNDER** | _ today at 7:13am _  
when he comes back imma kick his ass

**fubuki isn’t valid** | _ today at 7:13am _  
you can try  
and entertain the rest of us when it doesn’t work

**THUNDER** | _ today at 7:14am _  
>:( ϟϟϟ

**not around to change his name >(** | _ today at 7:57am _  
so red eyes is gone too

**enjouyin** | _ today at 7:57am _  
WHAT

**not around to change his name >(** | _ today at 7:57am _  
and i don’t know why  
not yours! the older one  
but that’s probably why she’s mad

**fubuki isn’t valid** | _ today at 7:58am _  
jounouchi’s red-eyes? that’s even worse

**not around to change his name >(** | _ today at 7:58am _  
this is so weird  
don’t leave your spirits alone until i figure this out

**THUNDER** | _ today at 7:58am _  
but I just sent a bunch of spirits out looking for info

**not around to change his name >(** | _ today at 7:58am _  
call them back!

**THUNDER** | _ today at 7:58am _  
I am!  
not my fault you ran off in the middle of the conversation  
which you just did again, didn’t you  
great  
man, remember when being proved right actually felt good?

* * *

Judai’s phone rings, pulling him out of the group chat. For a moment, he considers ignoring the call in favor of ensuring that Manjoume’s spirits make it back to him, but one look at the caller ID changes his mind immediately. He accepts the call with a grimace, not particularly looking forward to this conversation.

With Blue-Eyes vanishing without warning, he should’ve expected this call, honestly.

“Yuki,” comes the familiar drawl of an annoyed Kaiba. “I don’t suppose _ you _ have anything to do with this debacle.”

_ ‘This pissed off already?’ _ Yubel chortles despite their previously dour mood, grinning at Judai’s mildly despairing expression. _ ‘He must’ve talked to the others beforehand. Might’ve even tried to dial you while we were in another world.’ _

Judai mouths, _ not helping. _ Then, refocusing on the call, he says, “About Blue-Eyes’ and Red-Eyes’ disappearances, you mean? I’m looking into it.”

“Red-Eyes?”

“Yeah, Jounouchi’s dragon went missing too. Fubuki’s is still here, though—”

“I don’t care,” Kaiba cuts in impatiently. “Blue-Eyes’ portrait has faded from her card, but I am the only one who has handled it. This is _ unacceptable. _ I have readings and a location for you to investigate.”

A little weight eases off Judai’s shoulders. “That’s more than what I have. I’ll be there in a few minutes,” he says.

“Do better,” is the clipped response, and then Kaiba hangs up.

_ ‘A bit touchy, hm?’ _ Yubel raises a brow.

“I’d be too if Neos just up and vanished,” Judai points out.

_ ‘Not if _ I _ just up and vanished?’ _

“You _ can’t _ just up and vanish, you’re stuck with me forever.”

_ ‘And don’t you forget it,’ _ Yubel says, clearly pleased with themselves. _ ‘Now, to the dragon’s nest… Hope he has something worthwhile to offer. Impossible time constraints aside — he does know that shadow traveling isn’t instantaneous, right?’ _

Judai raises a brow at them, because Kaiba has been managing shadows for far longer than Judai has in this life, but they’re not wrong. Just because time and space feel fake in the shadows doesn’t mean they’re actually fake; they just obey different laws. And like any other mode of transportation, crossing over takes time and energy. Less, certainly, but the cost is still there.

They’d popped out of the earth world on a mountain trail that, thankfully, isn’t too far away from their destination. His original estimation of a few minutes is probably right on the mark. 

Judai tucks himself under a small rock outcropping, dropping smoothly into the darkness. From there, as the shadows crowd close and eager to his presence, he pictures a particular street in Domino City and wills himself there.

When he re-emerges, it’s in a shaded alleyway. He strolls casually out onto the sidewalk, brushing himself off a bit, and immediately notes a familiar storefront, confirming that he’s in the right place.

Even if this were his first time here, he doubts he’d have trouble locating the Kaiba Corporation’s main building. If the glistening high-rise and Blue-Eyes statues weren’t enough, the telltale itch of a dimensional wall worn thin (just like Duel Academia, but not quite as bad) pulls him right towards it. 

It’s under control, of course, and Kaiba’s presence alone deters most spirits from trying to cross over at that particular point, but it still emits enough distortion that Judai could find his way there with his eyes closed. He could’ve even shadow-hopped right to Kaiba’s office, but that’s rude and a good way to get attacked by patrolling spirits.

That doesn’t mean he takes his time getting there, though; an impatient Kaiba who’d lost his dragon is a grumpy Kaiba. Judai maintains a lively trot on his way into the building.

He skirts the reception desk and makes a beeline for the elevator. It’s empty enough that he’s the only one there, thankfully, and he waits for the doors to close before pulling out a particular card. It’s designed like any other duel monsters card, but the description box is empty and the portrait contains only the Kaiba Corp logo. Judai taps it against a card reader and watches the light flash from red to yellow-gold.

It takes only seconds for the elevator to smoothly arrive at his destination floor, but Judai’s already bored enough to have dug out his phone again and skimmed through the group chat. For the first time, he actually notices his admin-assigned (probably Shou-assigned) nickname, and rolls his eyes at it.

_ ‘You’ve been missed,’ _ Yubel says, and for a moment a hint of sympathy flickers leaks through their voice. Not for long, because they refuse to be distracted by other people, but — they do understand missing Judai. They know that feeling, quite keenly.

The elevator slides open and Judai tosses the phone into his backpack for Pharaoh to sit on before hurrying out towards the office door at the far end of the wall. He extends a shadow as he nears, feeling the whisper of darkness flicker thinly against razor-sharp brilliance, a strong soul coiled in tight fury.

Acknowledgement washes over Judai, and he pushes open the door.

“You’re late,” Kaiba says, not even facing him. He’s peering pensively at a holographic screen, arms crossed.

Yubel bares their teeth in silent amusement, tickled at the older duelist’s attempt at intimidation. Judai presses exasperated fondness at them, and then refocuses on Kaiba. “Sorry. You said you had a place for me to check out?”

“Some sensors I established for the European tournament picked up energy readings that _ aren’t _ from my tech.” Kaiba taps on a window on his screen and it expands, oriented towards Judai.

Not that Judai could really make heads or tails of the numbers and graphs displayed there, but he gets the idea. The boxes flashing red probably mean ‘bad’, and that’s all he needs to know. “Got anything more specific than Europe?” 

“At the _ tournament, _ Yuki.” At Judai’s blank look, Kaiba sneers. “You’ve been offworld too long. The tournament’s in Venice to showcase the newest in KC duel disk technology.”

Duel disk technology, huh? Judai debates asking how many times Kaiba intends to reinvent the wheel — a thought that sends Yubel into another bout of cackling laughter, and it’s a good thing no one else can hear or see them right now — before he decides to save that tease for later. When Kaiba isn’t in such a cranky mood, preferably.

“Okay, so. Venice. Italy,” Judai says. “And aside for the weird energy, no idea who it could be?”

“It’s nobody my systems know. Perhaps not even a proper shadow user, since none of the readings match up with expected values.”

_ ‘Does that include the Light?’ _ Yubel asks, suddenly solemn and wary. When Judai shoots them an alarmed look, they elaborate, _ ‘Just covering all our bases. It shouldn’t be the Light, but if it is…’ _

Better prepared than sorry. “Kaiba, do you still have data on the Light of Destruction?” 

He raises a brow. “Still incomplete, as you weeded it out before I could investigate it fully, but yes. I’ve already run comparisons. There are some similarities, but not enough to be cause for alarm, unfortunately.”

“Unfortunately?”

“You’d be able to track it better if it were the Light,” Kaiba reminds, impatience crawling into his tone. “Seeing as you’re here and not already chasing after it across the twelve worlds, I’d assume that it’s not the very obvious antithesis to your existence, which you’d feel as soon as it so much as _ breathed _ on anything here, and merely an impudent fool who forgot their place.”

Judai decides not to nitpick at Kaiba about how his powers work, and he also does not think about that ripple of displeasure in the Gentle Darkness that had caught his attention in the first place. _ Please _ let that not mean the Light has figured a way to conceal itself after that initial shock… 

_ ‘That thing has no concept of subtlety,’ _ Yubel says. _ ‘There’s no way it’d be so sneaky.’ _

_ It knows how to be sneaky, _ Judai thinks back, _ or at least it knows how to use other people’s sneakiness for itself. _

He recalls Yubel’s plots, twisted by the Light — and when they grumble unhappily at the memory, he points out that the Light-addled Bloo-D took a while to surface, too. 

_ ‘Alright, so it knows how to plot,’ _ Yubel relents. _ ‘But that only goes as far as constructing a delayed time bomb. It waits, it builds its strength, and it lashes out. It doesn’t really hide.’ _

True enough. The Society of Light had been the least covert thing he’d ever seen, and everyone involved was absolutely embedded with the stuff. Which, of course, makes him feel all the worse for ignoring it until it became too big to ignore, but hey. He hadn’t known enough to know what to do with the prickliness he felt from all those duelists.

But if the Light of Destruction tries something like that again, Judai will be ready for it this time. He knows what to do with that kind of thing now: beat the duelist in a shadow game, and let his shadows snip the Light’s control as the winning stake. Simple.

Too bad the Light is never fucking simple. 

Judai sighs. “I don’t suppose you know where Jounouchi is? I want to ask him about Red-Eyes.”

Kaiba sniffs and turns away. “I’m not the one keeping the lapdog in check.” The way he intones it sounds accusatory, almost, and Judai decides he should probably excuse himself before Yugi picks a fight for his friend’s honor—

His neck feels eerily light.

_ ‘He’s not here anymore,’ _ Yubel says. The sensation of leathery wings eclipses his soul for a moment, like a weighted blanket. _ ‘It’s just me.’ _

Right. Judai rakes a hand through his hair, clips out a short thanks to Kaiba, and practically drags the shadows over himself with his mind set on Venice.

He hasn’t had the Millennium Puzzle in years.

* * *

**LOAD MORE MESSAGES**

**mini kaiser** | _ today at 8:01am _  
@everyone DONT DUEL THE MASKED PSYCHIC IN WHITE WITH A BIKE  
HE’S GOT BLUE AND RED EYES AND STOLE CYBER END  
HE JUST

**old man kaiser** | _ today at 8:01am _  
what?

**mini kaiser** | _ today at 8:01am _  
RIPPED IT OUT OF MY CARD  
IN THE MIDDLE OF A REAL ASS DUEL  
CRASHED MY DISK AND RAN  
** _DON’T DUEL HIM_ **

**the gayest around** | _ today at 8:02am _  
out of your card??

**mini kaiser** | _ today at 8:02am _  
[sent photo0324.jpg]

**the gayest around** | _ today at 8:02am _  
holy shit

**old man kaiser** | _ today at 8:02am _  
where.

**mini kaiser** | _ today at 8:02am _  
in the park just outside the stadium  
I’m shaking I think the spirit is actually gone  
the other cybers aren’t talking anymore  
@around to change my name :P @the gayest around HELP  
what do I do?

**the gayest around** | _ today at 8:02am _  
dont panic. ill be right there  
@old man kaiser DONT DO ANYTHING RASH

**D for DESTINY, you guys** | _ today at 8:02am _  
Too late lmao  
I’m tailing him don’t worry

* * *

To Judai’s pleasant surprise, his shadows quickly find a familiar signature flaring up in Venice.

It takes a moment to figure out who it is, but upon approach, he recognizes Johan’s radiant strength. Seems like his friend is out and about and using his powers for something. 

Not far from there, Judai can make out the Kaiser brothers and Edo, too. Come to think of it, maybe they participated in or observed that tournament Kaiba had been talking about. It’s right up their alley, after all.

Judai wishes he’d been around for it, but at least he’ll be able to watch recordings of it later.

Either way, it doesn’t really explain why Johan’s using his shadows for something. Tournaments aren’t normally invitations for true summoning.

He figures that the place his friends are gathered at is as good a place to start as any, and latches onto them. Sharpening his focus, Judai draws himself as close as possible to their location, so when the darkness finally falls away, he comes to a stumbling stop just a block away from where they are. His shadows are still in contact with theirs, so despite not having line of sight to him, they notice his arrival and start heading in his direction.

Which is good, because he needs a long second to just lean against a wall and blink the spots from his eyes. His heart aches a bit, and a strange numbness slowly retreats from his limbs. It’s not wholly unfamiliar, being a symptom of spending too much energy in the darkness, but nevertheless unwelcome. As Judai catches his breath, he silently makes a note to never travel straight from Domino City to Venice ever again. 

The sky is darker here, still solidly in the middle of the night. Judai doesn’t know the exact time difference between here and Japan, but it looks like dawn is still a ways off.

_ ‘You should’ve known better,’ _ Yubel says disapprovingly. Their power flares up, trickling through his veins to flush out the last of the numbness. After a moment, it leaves Judai breathing a little easier. 

“I just needed to leave,” he says, which they understand, but.

_ ‘Then pick a less faraway place, next time. That building is riddled with holes, you didn’t need to come to Venice in a single hop.’ _

“Couldn’t you have brought that up earlier—?”

“Judai?” a familiar voice calls, and he quickly straightens off the wall.

“Hey, Edo! Were you here for the tournament?” Judai asks. And then, as a couple more people walk into view, he adds, “Hi, Johan, Shou, Ryou.”

Johan sighs in relief, closing the distance between them in seconds. The fact that he doesn’t just sling an arm over Judai’s shoulder at first sight tells Judai that his friend is either very stressed, very distracted, or very tired. Maybe even all three. Judai wraps his arm over Johan’s instead, offering solidarity. 

His friend cracks a brilliant smile at him. “Hi. Thank goodness you’re here. Did you notice anything about the park? I couldn’t find anything, but you’re better at tracking shadows than me.”

Judai blinks. “What park?”

“The park where the thief was,” Johan says.

Judai gets the feeling that he’s missing something, and glances back at the others. Now that they’re this close, he can tell that there’s… something off about Shou’s shadows in particular. Ryou definitely seems stressed, he’s leaning on his walking stick much more than usual, but Shou… something’s happened.

“I feel like it’s important to mention that I haven’t looked at the chat since, uh, over an hour ago? Couple hours ago?” Judai offers, not knowing exactly how long it took him to get to Venice, and Shou groans.

“You’re in the chat for a reason, aniki.”

“Yeah, it’s just — Pharaoh’s sitting on my phone, and I had to deal with Kaiba being Kaiba, and—”

“Kaiba? Wait, I thought he was still in…” Johan squints at an abruptly nervous Judai. “Did you shadow travel all the way here from Domino City? I came from Stockholm and I was _ dead _ for like an hour. How are you even awake?”

Through sheer force of will. Though being directly wired into the source of all life in all existence certainly doesn’t hurt, either. Judai waffles with how to verbally respond for a moment, and then says, “Listen, it’s kind of been a day.”

Ryou scowls. “It’s about to become even more of a day,” he says, bringing the conversation back on track. “Someone dueled Shou in the park, used Blue- and Red-Eyes to corner him, and then ripped Cyber End out of its card when he summoned it.”

It takes a moment to let that sink in. “Ripped,” Judai echoes, and then turns to Shou with a more serious expression. “You didn’t lose a shadow game, did you?”

Judai has influence over the darkness, sure, but he isn’t certain he can completely reverse the result of a proper shadow game — he has no idea why a spirit would be taken as payment anyway — but Shou shakes his head.

“The duel didn’t even finish,” he explains. “My duel disk crashed when Cyber End vanished. But it, uh, kind of felt like a shadow game? I mean, the monsters seemed real. I’m not sure, I thought it was an advancement in Solid Vision to make them more realistic, but Cyber Dragon left marks in the ground.”

“Regardless, the thief ran off,” Ryou says, displeased. “Johan can’t get a good grip on their shadows, never mind what little the rest of us have been able to find.”

“Assuming they were using shadows,” Edo interjects.

“Until Solid Vision actually _ gets _ that far, real monsters with previously missing spirits tend to mean shadow magic,” Johan says. “Judai, do you want to give it a shot at tracking them?”

Judai hesitates, and then says, “Can I see the card for a second, first?”

“Yeah, here.” Shou hands it over, nervously eyeing the purple-bordered card.

Judai turns it over in his hands, pensive. Not only is Cyber End’s portrait gone, the card _ feels _ empty too, with only the barest wisp of presence to indicate that a spirit had dwelled here, once. That means the connection itself had been severed, so even if the spirit wanted to return, it would need a bit of formal fanfare to reestablish its belonging.

It’s unnerving. And while Kaiba hadn’t offered Blue-Eyes’ card for examination, it’s probably the same way. 

Yubel bristles in the back of Judai’s mind as he hands it back and asks, “What did the thief look like?” 

“They had a weird mask on, so I’m not sure — but they were wearing some kind of strange gold pauldrons, and their clothes were pretty dark. Their big motorcycle thing was mostly white, though.”

Edo frowns, glancing at Judai. “Do you think it could be a spirit hunter?”

“It could, but…” Judai bites his lip, thinking back to the Gentle Darkness’ displeasure, back at the hot spring. Something as small as a hunter wouldn’t rattle the Gentle Darkness the way the culprit did. “If it’s a hunter, then they’re starting big out of nowhere. Definitely up to something.”

“Shou, what about the other Cybers?” Johan interjects. And then, likely for Judai’s benefit, “You mentioned in the chat that they went quiet?”

In response, Shou picks out three more cards from his deck and fans them out towards Johan and Judai. The Cyber Dragon portraits are untouched, and the spirits seem to still be connected. Distracted, maybe. Or forcefully muted.

_ ‘Could be worse,’ _ Yubel murmurs, _ ‘but not by much. Still, to take only Cyber End?’ _

“Weird that they’d get Cyber End without its material components,” Judai says, agreeing out loud. There are countless ways of getting around materials for fusions, as Judai is well aware, but someone who knows to target the spirit rather than the actual card should also know that it’s not as strong without its supports.

Johan nods, putting a hand to his chin in thought. “Even if Cyber Dragon wasn’t summoned in the duel, it would’ve appeared in the fusion process.”

“My duel disk crashed once he took the spirit, so maybe if he tried to steal a Cyber Dragon, he would’ve missed out on Cyber End,” Shou suggests. “Go big or go home, that kind of thing.”

“That could be it.”

Ryou says, “Judai, you spoke with Kaiba, right?” At his nod, he continues, “Was Blue-Eyes the same way?”

“He said her portrait went empty, but I didn’t ask more,” Judai admits, somewhat wishing he’d thought to do so. “I assumed he was talking about the physical card, and not one of his holographic ones.”

“Yeah, spirits don’t really like being bonded to the non-physical,” Johan says. “Most of his digital cards are still empty. But if any one were to take that leap of faith, it’d be Blue-Eyes.”

“If she weren’t preoccupied with guarding the spring, that is,” Judai points out.

“I meant about the Blue-Eyes support cards,” Ryou cuts in. “Was it only the main monster, or were other spirits taken too?”

“Kaiba didn’t say anything about others.”

At that, Shou frowns. “Then why not Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon? That’s the parallel to Cyber End, right?”

“Bold of you to assume that pilfering Blue-Eyes in a surprise attack or Cyber End in a duel means they have the power to go for _ Ultimate,” _ Johan says wryly.

_ ‘He’s got a point,’ _ Yubel says, _ ‘but Kaiba wasn’t dueled, was he?’ _

_ What do you mean? _

_ ‘Fusion spirits usually stay in their material forms until they’re actually fighting. Blue-Eyes vanished without a trace…’ _

So maybe she didn’t even get a chance to fuse. Meaning that the thief had relied on surprise-attacking the individual spirit, and not the duelist itself. 

Judai remembers the Meteor Dragon on the volcano. Considering Red-Eyes’ kidnapping in what he assumes was a difficult battle, it’s strange that she hadn’t asked the Meteor Dragon for help — unless she’d _ known. _

Unless, he realizes, she’d been _ told. _ If the thief fought Shou with the other missing dragons, then Red-Eyes had probably faced Blue-Eyes, and she’d be smart enough to warn her fellow dragon not to go into higher forms.

Edo seems to have a similar thought to Yubel, which is something Judai resolves never to tell him. “Monsters stay in their base forms, normally, so if the thief just couldn’t _ get _ to Kaiba and make push him to summon Blue-Eyes Ultimate, then they’d have to settle for normal Blue-Eyes, right? And nobody knows where Jounouchi is, these days, so other Red-Eyes forms are probably safe..”

Shou pales, looking horror-struck. “Then, because I fused—”

“It’s not your fault,” Johan interrupts. “We didn’t know. Now we do.”

“Take me to the park,” Judai says. He needs to get to the bottom of this. “Edo, can you put Pharaoh away somewhere safe? I have a bad feeling about this whole thing, and I don’t want him to get caught up in it.”

Edo rolls his eyes, but holds a hand out to take the bag. He then reaches into it, rummages around the bundle of sleeping fur for a bit, and then pulls out a phone. “Keep this on you,” he says in exasperation, tossing it to Judai. “You have pockets, and our help is worth it.”

The phone beeps. Judai sticks his tongue out at Edo in a fit of childishness, and then glances at the screen.

* * *

**LOAD MORE MESSAGES**

**THUNDER** | _ today at 10:44am _  
light and darkness dragon never came back.  
the ojamas are useless  
@around to change my name :P judai you better fucking find them

* * *

Judai looks up immediately. “Hey, Shou?” he says, with a careful lack of waver to his voice. “Is Manjoume in town?”

“Yeah. So’s Asuka. Why?”

“Can you make sure he’s okay? He doesn’t know where Light and Darkness is.”

Johan says, “He doesn’t know _ what?” _

“Did he duel?” Shou asks, at the same time.

“No, no, it looks like another spirit-based attack.” Judai tries not to look as sick to his stomach as he feels, instead stuffing his phone into a pocket and reaching for Johan’s hand. Interlacing their fingers, he adds, “Johan and I will get the park, just — ask him what he knows. Call us after.”

Shou exchanges a glance with Ryou, and then nods hesitantly. “We can do that.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Wait,” Johan says, slowing to a halt. “Do you hear that?”

Judai cocks his head to the side — at this time of night, there’s not much sound to go around — but then his eyes widen. He whirls around, his heart in his throat, but it’s too late to do anything about the mechanical whine of a charging attack reaching a fever pitch. With just enough time to look up, he sees a fireball manifest from the darkness and come whistling down from the sky.

He grabs Johan’s arm and yanks him back, throwing himself and his friend to the ground as the road ahead of them explodes.

Yubel’s scales erupt over his skin to deflect immediate pelting debris as he crouches over Johan, eyes orange-green and blazing. The shockwave shudders against him but parts against Yubel’s power, leaving them both unscathed while the ground around them cracks under the strain.

Johan meets Judai’s gaze for an instant, scrutinizing the orange-green glow of his eyes, and then pushes him off. “I’m fine, Judai! We need to…” He trails off, casting his gaze upward. “Wait, that attack — that’s Cyber End!” 

“What?” Judai follows Johan’s line of sight to the sky. 

It takes a moment to see anything beyond a bulky darkness blocking out starlight scattered above, but he switches to Yubel’s shadow-sensitive vision just in time to spot the metallic dragon gliding over them. A couple of edges snatch gleaming slivers of light from street lamps, affording only brief glimpses of something polished silver, but the humming steel and code embedded in the monster’s being makes it easy to identify as it soars past. Three-headed and serpentine, wings fanned from its back wide enough to cover the whole street, the familiar fusion screeches loudly enough to shake glass.

When it starts charging up another attack, firelike energy illuminating the shape of its metal jaws, Judai knows it can’t be anything else. “What’s it _ doing?” _

_ ‘Aside for the obvious?’ _ Yubel snaps, urging Judai back to his feet. Their protectiveness swells fervently at the edges of his mind, but Judai pushes back until the scales retract back into their shared soul.

“Not here, we gotta get everyone out first,” he says, eyeing the nearby buildings. People will start running out into the streets soon, if the flames licking up the sides of buildings are any hint, and shadow users and spirit speakers are still a secret. He can’t run around not looking utterly human. Crises make people easily startled and quick to pin blame on any strange thing they see, and that’s the last thing this slowly growing but still small collection of people need.

Yubel grumbles, but relents. They pull away from Judai’s body enough to keep an eye on the surroundings in their translucent, invisible-to-others spirit form, which Judai appreciates.

“I’ll summon you if I need you,” he promises under his breath, further appeasing his guarding dragon. A slightly _ too _ solid Solid Vision hologram won’t ruffle as many feathers as a seeming human-monster hybrid.

Another fireball and an ensuing shudder through the ground indicates that Cyber End’s attack is only beginning. By now, there are definitely sirens in the distance and people running out of the buildings in fear for their lives.

Johan grabs Judai’s arm, brandishing his phone with his free hand. “Shou and Ryou still on their way to Manjoume, and Edo’s even further off. We probably shouldn’t have split up.”

_ ‘A pity none of us are oracles,’ _ Yubel mutters.

“I’ll get them, hold on,” Judai says. He begins weaving through the civilians streaming past, glancing over his shoulder every now and then to make sure Johan’s still holding on. It’s hard, fighting the current of panicked crowds rushing in the opposite direction, but they manage to make it to a wall without getting trampled flat.

Pressed against the wall, they’re relatively sheltered from the increasing number of bodies hurrying past. But more importantly, the wall is actually near enough to an open flame from Cyber End’s attack that it casts a visible shadow, so Judai and Johan crouch there, digging their fingers into the darkness.

“Can you buy some time?” Judai asks. “I’m going to try and link Cyber End back to Shou or the Kaiser, see if it’ll go back to them once it’s given a choice.” The dragon loves the brothers like its own, and practically sees them as Cyber Dragons four and five. If he loosens whatever leash is controlling it, or at least amplifies his friends’ voices, then it should recognize its rightful chosen and stop rampaging.

Or so Judai hopes, because he has no idea how the thief managed to sever those bonds in the first place. And he hopes further that the other missing dragons won’t crop up here, because those wielders definitely aren’t in range, and asking them to shadow travel great distances to the middle of a battle zone seems like a bad idea.

“Go. I got it, the Crystal Beasts will help me,” Johan reassures.

“Be careful.” Judai doesn’t need to remind him that the thief has been targeting dragons. Rainbow Dragon would be the crown jewel of that set, if taken. 

Johan nods, and Judai pulls the shadows over himself.

Looking for a specific person who isn’t actively using their powers isn’t as efficient as looking for a broader place, since people-shaped shadows tend to be smaller and blur together more than physical structures. Judai knows his friends well enough to be able to latch onto Shou’s location, but it’s not quite as accurate and takes a breath longer than normal — and considering the time dilation, even an extra breath might be too late.

In his rush, he stumbles slightly upon emerging, startling a scream from a random man who happened to be too close to the patch of shadows he’d emerged from. 

Thankfully, the man keeps running, so Judai doesn’t bother trying to apologize or explain. He spins around, looking for Shou and Ryou, knowing they must be close.

“Aniki!” Shou crashes into him out of nowhere, eyes wide. Seems like he’d been looking for Judai, too. “The other Cybers are _ really _ upset now, what’s going on?”

No kidding; even without touching Shou’s deck, Judai feels the spirits’ anxiety radiate through their duelist, clamoring for attention. A different screech echoes in the distance, and Judai glances up to spot a blur of brown diving out of the sky at a flash of silver. Cobalt Eagle, he assumes. “The thief’s making Cyber End rampage, no clue why. We gotta stop it. Where’s Ryou?” 

“Talking to the police. Manjoume thought someone might be abusing KC’s technology, so brother’s going to catch him up.” 

Cyber End is real, not just Solid Vision. While Solid Vision is a good way to kickstart a real summoning for an inexperienced summoner, considering that this person is skilled enough to nick Blue-Eyes, of all spirits, Judai doubts they’d have much need for that kind of help.

“Do you have the Cybers and Cyber Dark with you? And the empty Cyber End card?” he asks, hoping Ryou hadn’t decided to take them.

“Yeah.”

“Since Cyber End’s here, I’m going to try retying it to your allegiance and your card,” Judai says. “It adores you, unless you’ve done something horrible while I’ve been gone, so maybe all it needs is an opening to get away from the thief.”

Hope flickers through Shou’s expression. “You think you can get it back?”

“I think I can help _ you _ get it back. C’mon, I don’t want to leave Johan on his own against Cyber End.” Especially when he’s trying to avoid summoning Rainbow, Judai doesn’t say aloud. No need to worry Shou with how much Johan has to hold back.

Shou nods, grabs Judai’s hand, and the two of them slip back into the shadows. Finding Johan is much easier, since he’s in the middle of a duel and using his shadows in active combat, though Judai finds that even these smaller hops through shadows is starting to pull at his stamina. 

Right as they emerge and before they reorient themselves, Ruby Carbuncle skids around a corner and nearly careens into both them, chirping furiously. 

Judai quickly pulls himself together at the spirit’s urgent cries and says, “Alright, alright, we’re here now — let’s go!”

Ruby takes off like a shot with Judai and Shou hot on its heels. The streets here have cleared out quite a bit, thankfully, and Judai manages not to lose the little spirit as it sprints back to Johan’s side.

As they round a building, Cyber End comes back into view, spotlit in flames and the glow from uncurtained windows. Shou makes a sound like he’s been suckerpuched in the gut, and Judai realizes that the Crystal Beasts are desperately trying to drive the dragon back from a hospital.

“Cyber End!” Shou shouts, but the dragon doesn’t hear, too busy snapping at Amethyst Cat as it struggles to find some chink in its metal armor to sink its claws into. 

Hooves clack on the ground behind them, and Judai turns to see a tired-looking Johan sliding off Sapphire Pegasus’ back. “Couldn’t find the thief,” he says. “They’re probably hiding, letting Cyber End do all the work.”

“Let’s see if we can put a stop to this altogether,” Judai says. “Ready, Shou?”

His friend pulls out the empty fusion card. “Ready.”

“Good luck,” Johan says, and pats his spirit. Sapphire Pegasus nods at them and takes to the air again, joining the other Crystal Beasts in distracting Cyber End from the hospital.

_ Ready, Yubel? _

_ ‘Always.’ _

Judai’s eyes flare orange-green with power, and then simmer out to a calm gold. He focuses on Shou, on the worried, desperate twist of a soul calling out for its partner, and funnels his shadows into that voice.

Shou isn’t as sensitive to the shadows as Johan or Judai, but he still sucks in a quick breath as Judai’s power roars through him, running down his arm to pool at the empty card in his hand.

“Cyber End!” Shou shouts again, and this time it’s accompanied by a _ pulse _ from the darkness, beckoning in more ways than one.

The dragon, snapping at Cobalt Eagle, pulls up short in its attack. Its focus shifts.

“There we go,” Judai murmurs. “Again, Shou.”

The Crystal Beasts back off now, warily keeping watch as Cyber End turns towards Shou. A burst of pride warms Judai’s chest when his once-timid friend doesn’t back away from the spirit’s gaze, but rather meets the its eyes evenly.

“Cyber End, that’s enough,” Shou says. An engine thrums to life, somewhere in the distance, and the card in his hand begins to glow the same gold as Judai’s eyes. Judai focuses on trying to rebuild the broken foundations of a bond there, pouring the shadows in and hoping Yubel’s vaster knowledge of spirit formalities will shape it into something Cyber End can return to. 

Shou raises the card higher, emboldened. 

“You chose me. You let me fold you into my deck, you fought with me when my brother couldn’t handle the strain, you loved him and wept for him and swore yourself to my allegiance with his blessing, Cyber End, you chose me! Come back!”

Cyber End sways from side to side, just barely, and then slowly begins tilting its heads downward.

There’s a screech of tires on stone, and then a voice: “I don’t think so.”

A lot of things happen in very quick succession. Shou flinches, whirling around to glare at the source of the voice, and Judai does the same to see someone standing on a roof beside a white vehicle. The man holds out a hand and Cyber End straightens at once, crying out, sweeping its tail at them in blind fury.

Judai has to drag Shou back and out of the way, raising an arm coated in Yubel’s scales to deflect the force of the blow. 

The Crystal Beasts roar and charge back in, but Cyber End is relentless, batting Sapphire down from the sky and closing one set of jaws on Cobalt’s wing, causing the eagle to shriek as it vanishes, crushing Emerald Turtle into nonexistence beneath countless tons of metal coils in the same move.

Three blasts gather in the dragon’s jaws and it spits them at the hospital. Amethyst and Topaz Tiger jump to intercept two, with Amber Mammoth tackling the third, and all of them splinter into shards of light. 

They’re dropping like flies, Johan grunting as the pain of their destruction bites into his soul, held back by the inability to use Rainbow. In addition, the fact that they’re not even remaining in their crystalized forms means Johan thinks the thief might hijack those inactive forms, if given the chance.

Faint, muffled screaming keys Judai in on the fact that the people in the hospital are _ seeing _ this, and they can’t do anything about it. 

“Neos!” Judai calls, aborting his flow of power to Shou’s empty card, and the hero bursts into existence. It flies up to face Cyber End as the dragon readies another blow. Johan clutches his head as Sapphire Pegasus intercedes and kicks out, trying to drive the dragon back, but it’s not going to be enough.

_ ‘Call to it!’ _ Yubel suddenly demands, a dawning idea emerging between their mind and Judai’s. _ ‘Its rightful partner’s voice can’t reach it, but maybe its King’s voice will!’ _

Judai opens his mouth to do just that, because Cyber End _ has _ responded to him before, but Neos dissipates into white-hot pain that dissolves every thought he has. Johan staggers as well, Sapphire screaming in distress.

Cyber End lunges, striking past Sapphire’s faltering flight to sink its fangs into stone. Glass shatters at its maw, and suddenly the people’s screams are a lot clearer than before.

Shou shrieks, “No! Stop it, Cyber End!”

All the remaining power that Judai had poured into him — boiling uselessly there, having no willing spirit to bind to the card — it shudders through the empty card and burrows into his deck instead, rousing something else there, at Shou’s will.

Echoing Shou’s shriek, a Cyber Dragon erupts into reality in a rush of gleaming metal, lurching forward, a desperation in its shadowy existence that hurts Judai to look at.

Eager to take any way out that doesn’t involve forcing Cyber End to bow to his title rather than its bonds, Judai immediately redirects his attention to the smaller dragon as it confronts its fused form.

An Evolution Burst coils in Cyber Dragon’s throat and fires out, but there’s a reason why Cyber End is the cover monster for the Cyber series. The brave attack skates uselessly over Cyber End’s scales, and in response, Cyber End leans down and _ crunches _ the smaller creature in its rightmost head, shattering it.

Shou sinks to his knees with a sob and Johan sees the other two heads charging up another attack, and he says, “O lord of gems, o seven-hued beast of the endless sky—”

Judai’s heart nearly stops. “Wait, Johan, don’t!”

“—and its countless colors, your wings feathered and body bejeweled!”

Two separate waves of panic coalesce into one, and Judai reaches out to stop him, but Johan’s silhouette wavers into spinning light and he stops. A pulse of power knocks everyone else back, and even Cyber End turns to look as prismatic column of light goes screaming up into the heavens, bright enough to mock an early sunrise for a split instant.

“Rainbow Dragon, fly high!”

And the pillar of light scatters, leaving Rainbow Dragon in the center, gracefully arched against the clouded night. It hardly gives anyone a second to breathe before it flaps its wings once and crashes into Cyber End, biting the scruff of its middle neck, hauling the mechanical dragon away from the building and into the sky.

Judai thinks he hears laughter, for a moment, in the instant when Rainbow hurls Cyber End away and roars its challenge. Cyber End spirals upward, but — unable to escape the other dragon’s curuscating beam that slices across its wings — it writhes and shatters, finally losing its corporeal form.

Something glints on the rooftop where the masked thief stands. A thin ray of light shoots out and slams into Rainbow Dragon, an impact that sounds like a thousand cards being shuffled at once, and Johan makes a strangled sound as his dragon wails helplessly, slowly shrinks down into a ball of rotating cards and light, and vanishes.

Johan collapses as the light retracts back to the thief and Judai is running before he even registers it, Yubel’s inhuman strength pouring through his veins as he vaults _ up _ the side of a building and sprints for the thief.

His friends shout after him but he keeps going, jumping from roof to roof until he leaps and rolls and rises up to see the thief stare at him from the opposite side of the roof. They cock their head to the side and step idly off the edge, falling out of sight.

_‘Taunting you,’_ Yubel murmurs, and Judai grits his teeth. _‘They want_ _you to follow.’_

_ They got that when they started stealing spirits, _ he thinks, the breaths too harsh in his chest to say it aloud. He follows, but at a slightly more cautious pace, peering over the edge of the roof before digging Yubel’s talons into the side of the wall and sliding down as well.

The thief stands there, waiting, which absolutely stinks of a trap. There’s nothing he can do about it, though.

“Your impact stretches through the timeline, you know,” the thief says, casual as can be. “Yes, your cruelty leaves stains that will be spoken of for centuries. Everyone who lives on the worlds lives in fear of what you did.”

“Do they?” Judai smiles blandly at the thief, Yubel coiled tight around his soul, reminding him of his repentance, reminding him that these words are biased untruths. Not lies, but wrong enough. “In that case, you clearly must not be from this timeline,” he says, every word thrumming with promised power.

“Oh? You sound quite certain of this.”

“Yeah. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have stolen those dragons while _ I’m _ around.” Judai’s eyes flash orange-green again. Gentle Darkness laps at his feet, an echo of his readiness. Eager. It knows this stranger has stolen from it, and it wants everything back and more. 

Revenge has always been a specialty of the shadows.

The masked thief laughs, a grating sound that would cause any lesser creature to shudder. “How do you know I’m not simply from that far off in the future? From a time that gives me what I need to take the strongest spirits from right under the nose of the most notorious King of spirits? We have learned from your merciless rule, _ Haou _.”

Long practice is the only reason why Judai doesn’t flinch at the title. Instead, his eyes narrow, flecks of gold sparking into his irises as the shadows rally to his side. 

But before he can snap back, the thief is already drawing a card and lifting it high, lightning surging through it until — with a cascading roar — light pours out and takes the form of a gleaming Cyber End Dragon, wings splayed, tail lashing as it screeches a challenge. Resurrected, fresh, and ready to go, it doesn’t appear to recognize him at all. 

Judai bites back Yubel’s snarl of rage and stands steady. This is what he wants; dragons, above all others, respond to Kingship the most. “Cyber End!” he calls, reaching out to the familiar monster.

Immediately, he detects a barrier that stops his voice from reaching the spirit. For a moment, he fears the worst, but whatever’s blocking him out doesn’t burn him like he’d expected, it’s just cold and impassive. It’s not the Light of Destruction.

Cyber End doesn’t respond to him, but he smirks anyway. If it’s not the Light, then it’s not insurmountable. He just needs to try again.

“Attack!” the thief commands, and Cyber End rears its head back to charge an Eternal Evolution Burst.

Yubel mentally yanks at Judai, jarring him into motion. _ ‘Run! You can’t afford to get hit.’ _

Very few _ could _ afford that. Judai turns and runs, his dragon’s strength pulsing through his limbs to drive him faster. Scales pepper his skin anxiously as Cyber End unleashes its attack, a blast of power crashing into one of the buildings to his left, obliterating half its width in an instant. The rest of the building groans as it falls, crumbling in on itself. 

No screams erupt from the ruins, though. Johan must’ve successfully evacuated everyone, or people have decided to hunker down and pray, rather than run shrieking out in the open.

The whistle of wind against steel reaches Judai’s ears, and he knows that the three-headed dragon has taken to the air in pursuit. He keeps running. 

Yubel rises from their fused soul, a translucent figure hovering him behind as a watchful eye on Cyber End’s movements, allowing Judai to focus on vaulting over pieces of debris and avoid tripping headfirst into blazing rubbish.

_ ‘Incoming!’ _ they warn, and Judai swerves a sharp left to avoid the snap of steel-trap jaws.

There’s a crash as Cyber End’s left head slams into the street. It pulls back with a disdainful hiss at missing its target and spits a mouthful of dirt aside, clearly annoyed.

The display of emotion is reassuring. “Least it’s still alive in there,” Judai says, pulling more of Yubel’s power through himself until leathery wings burst from his back with a momentary flare of pain that quickly abates. He flaps them once, experimentally, and then harder — pushing himself off the floor and seeking higher ground. The roofs are more exposed, but at least there’ll be less damage to the city around them.

Hiding from Cyber End won’t work anyway, since Judai’s bad at hiding from spirits. Not to mention that the fusion has piercing power. No amount of cover would save him.

_ ‘Keep moving,’ _ Yubel urges, but Judai notices the masked thief step into view in the plaza just a block away.

He immediately fixates on the duel disk attached to the thief’s right arm. The cards trapping Cyber End and the rest of the dragons should be there, so if he can snatch those away, he wins.

Unfortunately, Cyber End isn’t keen on letting him get close. It notices him step in that direction and hisses, firing yet another barrage of attacks that force Judai to leap away and glide to another roof in a different direction, losing sight of the thief.

“Need to calm it down first,” Judai says, half to himself. Yubel sounds their assent, tense as he vaults back down to the ground, where shadows exist in greater and deeper quantities.

All things begin in the Gentle Darkness, and spirits are tied to it by nature. Judai can’t channel all of it at once, as he’s learned from his first stint in the dark world, but if he builds it up slowly… 

_ ‘It’s worth a shot. I’ll help you out.’ _

“Thanks,” Judai says, and the shadows rally to his side.

* * *

**LOAD MORE MESSAGES**

**dinosaurus** | _ today at 11:22am _   
is that cyber end dragon on tv?   
why is it blowing up venice

**fubuki isn’t valid** | _ today at 11:23am _   
@around to change my name :P @the gayest around @mini kaiser @old man kaiser hey! anyone wanna update us!

**THUNDER** | _today at 11:23am_  
I saw ryou but lost him in the crowd  
the news is going NUTS  
kc isnt gonna like covering this up  


* * *

Judai leaps up onto another roof, furling Yubel’s wings when he lands. The city blazes around him, absolutely devastated by Cyber End’s assault, albeit not quite as devastated as it _ could _ be, had Judai not been leading the dragon in circles of already-destroyed blocks. 

Nevertheless, he’s done with the stalling game. He’s managed to bide enough time.

The Gentle Darkness froths at his feet, rousing shadows from the various abandoned corners of Venice. Again he checks for signs of human life, just to make sure, but nobody else is around. Johan must’ve recovered enough to help Shou and the rest of his friends evacuate the city quickly and thoroughly, without having to worry about Cyber End. 

Raising a hand, Judai takes a steadying breath and dips ever so slightly into the vast power he’s linked to. His shadows — his soul tied to the fabric of creation — reach out to Cyber End unseen, crooning, calling.

_ Creature mine, _ it says, _ remember me? Come back. Come back. Come back. _

A clocktower creaks, its foundation shattered, and tilts towards where Judai stands firm on the rooftop. He spares it a pitying glance and leaps, wings splayed to catch the air, and rolls easily to his feet at the bottom.

Cyber End looks down at him, in the perfect position to finally land a clean hit, and… hesitates. Recognition flickers in its glowing eyes at last.

The shadows beckon again, curling off Judai’s fingers in velvety wisps as he keeps a hand raised, palm up in offering. “Come on,” he whispers, backing the ethereal call with real words that cut through the crackling fires burning themselves out amongst the destroyed buildings. “It’s okay. You know me. What are you doing here? Why aren’t you with Shou? The Kaiser?”

Shaking its three heads, the dragon clicks at him in what seems like confusion. Judai dares to hope that he can break the thief’s control over the stolen spirits like this, by calling out to them with their improper master out of earshot — but before he can fully break Cyber End free, light explodes a block over.

Reflexive panic seizes him for a split instant, enough to distract his shadows as the brilliance rises into the air and splinters into a thousand colors, a dazzling show that guts Judai’s darkness of its depth and power.

Rainbow Dragon slithers into the sky with a resounding howl. Cyber End jerks its heads up and roars an echoing cry, rallying, and Yubel swears in an old language that Judai barely remembers.

“Cyber?” Judai tries, but the moment has been broken. The mechanical dragon dives at him, and forcing him to dodge out of the way.

_ ‘So close,’ _ Yubel mutters. They renew the flood of power through his body, allowing him to take to the air and avoid Cyber End’s next series of Eternal Evolution Bursts.

He’s not quite fast enough to avoid Rainbow Dragon, though. As he searches for another roof, breathing a little heavily, the prismatic lord of gems descends with color coalescing around its maw. Only Judai’s familiarity with the spirit allows him to recognize the warning before it launches its attack, and he knows he won’t have time to move out of the way. 

Instead, he yanks the first card off his deck. He doesn’t even need to look at it to know which one it is. “Neos!” he calls, and his hero reappears in the split second before Rainbow’s attack rushes at them.

The beam splits against the hero, carving trenches into the ground off to the side. The force of the impact shoves Judai to the ground, but he is still untouched by the attack itself. Raising an arm to brace against the ongoing blast, Judai digs his heels in and pulls his wings around himself defensively. His eyes glow as he channels as much power into Neos as he dares.

After what feels like a long moment, the beam subsides. Neos shatters in its wake, too spent to remain in the physical world.

Rainbow shrieks indignation that its prey had escaped destruction and lifts higher into the air, circling above. Cyber End joins it, looking more red than steel-silver in the blaze of the city beneath them.

“Damn,” Judai says, giving himself a shake. Dark scales retreat from his arms and back, wings dissipating as he decides to conserve his energy more. Shadows knit instinctively over the torn holes in his clothes, not quite fixing them, but at least concealing them from first glance. “I almost forgot how terrifying it is when they actually want to kill you.” 

The fact that their full power was brought out at all speaks to their summoner’s abilities, too. This thief really is something else.

Yubel rolls their eyes over his shoulder, still unsummoned and thus invisible to all but him. _ ‘You sure you want to contemplate that while all this is going on and you have an empty field?’ _ they drawl.

Looking up at the circling dragons, Judai hums and pretends to think about it. His eyes flicker back to a vibrant orange-green, and Neos shimmers slowly back into existence. It’s weaker for its third appearance this night, and probably won’t fully ward off another attack like that, but having his hero on the field is reassuring nonetheless.

Footsteps click solemnly on packed earth, and Judai lets his gaze fall from the dragons overhead to the thief strolling leisurely over. This close, he gets a grasp not only on what the thief visually looks like, but what the shadows say of the thief’s existence.

As it turns out, a pretty strong opinion swamps him immediately. The Gentle Darkness snarls, every inch of it declaring that the thief has no right to be here, or anywhere else the righteous shadows touch.

“Yuki Judai,” the thief says, as though tasting the name like a fine wine. Judai finds that he’d prefer the guy never say his name ever again. “Truly exceptional, being able to hold your own against these spirits. Being able to extend some measure of control over them, even — and over your own spirits as well. Kingship does suit you.”

Judai’s fierce smile is plenty response on its own. He doesn’t move, even as the dragons finally peel away from the heavens and come to rest just bare meters from the ground, perfectly between their King and their current wielder.

Yubel curls their lips, displeased. _ ‘What does he know? And how?’ _ They glare at the thief, and were they in their second or third forms, their hackles would visibly rise. As it is, their agitation is all too easy for Judai to feel, fang and claw at the ready. All it would take to unsheathe them is a thought. _ ‘Enough is enough. There’s something else in that deck of his, Judai, something he brought with him. Don’t let your guard down.’ _

Just barely canting his head in a nod, Judai straightens. His eyes are still vivid with power, one orange, one green — and now, both pale out to a wintry gold.

“Enough,” the Supreme King says. Darkness gathers around him in a swarm, rippling.

The dragons hiss, but the Gentle Darkness reaches out to them once again, feeling along that barrier that cuts them off from their true masters and _ prying _ at it, gnawing away at whatever futuristic power it is that holds them captive. Cyber End shudders, Rainbow keens, and the thief’s duel disk glows with twisted light that wrestles for control over the spirits — but Judai is their reigning King. The Supreme King will not. Be. Denied.

Too late, the thief realizes that his control over the spirits is slipping. “What are you doing?” he says, trying to command the dragons that aren’t his.

Rainbow shifts first, pressing its wings to its body and rumbling, acknowledging Judai’s position. After another moment, Cyber End lowers its heads by a mere degree.

Forcing obedience from spirits is not something Judai likes to do, but the King of Spirits has their allegiance for a reason. With luck, it will be enough. 

Judai feels a grin split over his features. “Maybe _ don’t _ take monsters from under the nose of the King of Spirits, next time,” he says lightly, and Rainbow Dragon turns its head to the thief and Cyber End Dragon does the same. Their teeth are bared, their eyes alight, and they begin closing in.

The thief takes a single step back — and snarls. To Judai’s disappointment, he doesn’t give up. In fact, he redoubles his efforts, whipping out two cards from his duel disk.

From this distance, making out what they say is impossible, but as energy courses through and lights up the cards, Cyber End and Rainbow spasm and cry out in pain.

The shadows connecting Judai to the monsters snap as agony floods through them, causing him to recoil. Some kind of power wraps around the two dragons, something strange, something so bright and burning that the Gentle Darkness screams and writhes as it pulls away as though it had brushed a core of pure Light. Again, he feels that chill of wrongness nip at his bones.

If Judai hadn’t suspected before, he definitely knows now. This masked thief is not from any of the twelve worlds and its timeline that the Gentle Darkness fosters, or it would not have wrought such a severe reaction from the old power.

Rainbow tips its head back and utters an awful sound and for an instant Judai hears Johan’s voice in its cry, and then Shou and the Kaiser and Asuka and Thunder all screaming alongside, and panic lodges itself in his chest without warning, no, _ no not again, never again— _

_ ‘Focus!’ _ Yubel shoves him out of it before his thoughts can spiral, splitting the past from the present with a line as stern as their impenetrable scales.

Instinctively, he turns to his deck and draws — and it doesn’t help that the card he holds now is steeped with a bloody darkness he could never mistake for anything else.

Super Fusion sits waiting in his hand, pulsing with every cry of the suffering dragons. Judai steels his resolve and lifts it up, hoping to call at least Rainbow back by fusing it to Neos, if not Cyber End as well. The card lights up, all of creation tied to its power.

But his momentary hesitation costs him.

The thief laughs. “You’re too _ late, _ Yuki Judai,” he says, and energy peels away from the writhing dragons and leaves two husks, broken and battered and patched with pieces of black and white armor, utterly still.

Super Fusion sputters, unable to join either of these _ new _ dragons with Neos. Something has gone wrong, and although this spell is supposed to be unstoppable, Judai of all people knows that it can still be defied, if a duelist is quick and lucky and clever enough. 

Of course the thief would be one such duelist.

Judai’s smile is jagged now, like broken glass. The Gentle Darkness recovers from the sudden severing and reaches out again, calling with the influence of the King of Spirits, but the dragons have stopped responding.

He can’t feel anything in their bodies. No soul, no shadows, nothing but the thief’s will, as though their very hearts had been slain.

The Gentle Darkness _ roars. _ Ancient rage rings in Judai’s ears with unending echoes, forcing Judai’s eyes gold before he can stop it. He barely hears the thief speak beneath the furious sound, some thin explanation that “Sin monsters obey no King but their master,” something that scarcely matters under the weight of creation in fury.

Judai clenches his fist so tightly his nails leave crescent-shaped pinpricks of pain in his palms, and that helps him come back to himself, drawing him out of the deep darkness roiling in his soul, vicious yellow subsiding from his eyes.

For some reason, masked thief is still speaking. “Still,” he says, “I see that they will not be enough. So.” He draws again, and pulls a card that shimmers brilliantly, a card that he raises into the air, a card that gleams silver as it unleashes a whirlwind and a blaze of light and a crushing presence that crashes down, unstoppable.

_ ‘Here it is,’ _ Yubel says apprehensively, wings arched around Judai to ground him.

A dry laugh spills from Judai’s lips as the wind picks up, rushing at him as though it too was a weapon turned against him. 

In moments, the twister is torn apart from the inside out, a dragon spreading its wings to clear the light and wind away. It is no dragon Judai has ever seen before, white with blue accents and wings like old fabric that glitters. The spirit rings strong against his senses, cosmic dust and galaxies and stars compressed. It carries a song older than Cyber End, older than Rainbow Dragon, yet new all the same, like it had been recently reborn.

It would be beautiful if it were not about to kill him.

“Stardust Dragon,” the thief says, elation in every inch of his voice. “I did not want to summon it here — this is not where I want time to unravel — but you’ve left me no other choice. Here, now, you will be eliminated.”

“Neos,” Judai begins, trying to think through Yubel’s surge of rage at the thief’s words, and his hero moves to protect him.

At full strength, perhaps he would’ve been able to fend the attack off with just Neos. But both him and his spirit have been worn down today, so when Stardust blasts a ray of concentrated light at them, Neos’ form shatters too early.

Judai slams up a shield of shadows to protect himself from the worst of the damage, crossing his forearms in front of his face, but this beam sears through the darkness. Even though the shield takes the edge off, it burns his skin and rips at his clothes and pushes him back several paces. He struggles to maintain a thin layer of darkness between him and the attack, knowing he won’t be able to sustain it for much longer.

Yubel presses to the forefront of their soul. _ ‘Call me to your side!’ _ Their power would protect him, would save him from this struggle — but at what cost? Fear raps sharply on his heart because he knows this thief can steal spirits, and Yubel is one he’s already failed before, what if they’re taken from him again?

His shield crumbles away too quickly. Taking the full hit is too much of a risk, when he doesn’t know what else this dragon can do.

_ ‘Judai!’ _ Yubel gathers at the brink of reality with all their heart, claws drawn and fangs bared as Judai’s darkness weakens and weakens and weakens. _ ‘We are bound, together forever. Let me defend you!’ _

This time, Judai doesn’t bother with drawing. He doesn’t need to.

“Yubel!” he shouts, and his lives-long partner surges from their soul and crashes into existence in a bellowing fury, a roar tearing from their lips so strong that it would suit their final form.

Stardust’s attack immediately crumples against Yubel without ever touching them and swirls around them indecisively for a moment, giving Judai a chance to let go of his failing shield and _ breathe, _ and then Yubel’s eyes flash and the attack rebounds back towards the dragon that shot it.

Unfortunately, Stardust avoids it with a single flap of its wings, leaving a shimmering trail of diamond dust behind as it rises and screeches, tail lashing.

Yubel shifts and shifts — from their first form to their second to their third in a shudder of black-purple scale expanding too quickly to interrupt. They roar defiantly as their eldritch form settles into the many-eyed, multi-headed, several-winged spirit that Judai knows every inch of, both dragonhead maws gaping as they crouch protectively over him.

The altered Cyber End and Rainbow dragons remain still, but Stardust screams back at Yubel, twisting in the air to dive down with claws outstretched. 

Yubel catches its claws with their own, one set of fangs snapping for the other dragon’s sinewy neck. Their eyes glow orange, taunting, infecting Stardust with a bloodlust that makes its movements sloppy. Yubel bowls it over, forcing it away from Judai and back towards the thief. 

Before they can completely destroy it, though, an Eternal Evolution Burst slams into them. It doesn’t hurt them, and the energy flows around them for a moment before recondensing and returning fire at silent Cyber End on the sidelines. The mechanical spirit takes the hit without flinching, perhaps because it can’t flinch anymore, without sentience of its own.

Still, it gives Stardust a chance to get back to its feet, snarling, wings flared to make itself look bigger as it confronts Yubel. They’re about the same size, which means Judai should back away before he gets trampled in the clash. He doesn’t like putting more distance between him and Yubel, but at this close range he’d just make Yubel’s job more difficult.

Through the drifting dust, he catches sight of the masked thief straightening.

“Perfect,” the thief says, and holds up a card. A blank card.

Judai realizes what’s about to happen just a moment too late. “Come back!” he yells, yanking at their soul, but Yubel’s still grappling with Stardust, busy redirecting another silvery beam. They can’t return to him in time, even if one head twists back to acknowledge his cry.

A streak of energy bursts from the thief’s blank card and strikes Yubel head-on like a lightning bolt. They roar and curl in on themselves, shuddering like they’re trying to fight their own body as it pulls in, the sound of a thousand cards in motion wrapping around them as the light consumes their form and rips them away.

For an instant, realization-horror-panic flashes through their connection, orange-green bleeding out of brown irises — and then it snaps.

Silence.

Judai _ screams. _

Their joined soul tears apart like a living thing bisected, like a butterfly squealing as its wings are slowly pulled from its body. Agony swells through him at nauseating levels and he falls to one knee, gasping, choking on air, eyes jumping straight to gold when the Gentle Darkness reacts to his distress but can’t do anything to help him. He grabs at his chest, clutching at the emptiness where his guardian’s steady heart and undying love should be, now a void that his soul bleeds and weeps into.

The thief laughs as though he hadn’t just severed a sacred bond he had no right to see, nevermind touch, nevermind _ shatter. _ With a flicked wrist, he commands Stardust Dragon to resume its assault. It pulls itself up with a growl, mustering the strength for another attack, and a shambling breath drags its way through Judai’s throat.

He can’t fall here. 

His friends are waiting. He remembers Johan falling like a puppet with its strings cut, Shou’s sobbing cry to his partner lost, the Meteor Dragon turning away without faith.

Judai sets his jaw. “Fusion,” he whispers hoarsely, but the magic rising from his deck does not move quickly enough, slowed by pain. 

He knows the spell will not resolve in time. Still, he doesn’t waver. He’s endured worse. The Gentle Darkness rises like a tsunami around his torn soul, and though it alone might not be enough, he pulls it over himself in a thin shield and stares the dragon straight in the eyes as its blast bears down upon him.

In the distance, something sings. 

Judai doesn’t recognize it in the split second before the attack reaches him, but the Gentle Darkness shudders with a touch of old familiarity, like _ it _ knows the song when its mortal incarnation couldn’t, and that whisper of reassurance is enough for Judai to resist flinching when crimson abruptly washes over his vision.

The rippling color curves around him for a moment, so close that it sears stars into the back of his eyelids. He watches, baffled, as the fiery body twists and emits a musical roar that reverberates against the shadows.

It’s another dragon, but this one is made of red star-fire with golden eyes, eyes that turn towards Judai and meet his gaze with cosmic omniscience. Judai knows immediately that this being is more than spirit or flesh, and it _ sees _ every inch of him without a doubt, from the tattered clothes on his body to the fresh wound on his soul.

And then it fades to wisps of flame and someone comes skittering through the embers on a red motorbike. “Stardust Dragon!” the stranger says, and while Judai doesn’t recognize the voice, he knows that desperate tone. 

Even Stardust Dragon is a stolen spirit, then. From where, Judai has no idea, but… 

What in the worlds is the thief’s goal?

The stranger’s arm glows, revealing just a sliver of that same crimson flame that made up the red dragon. Stardust seems to respond to it, lifting its head and uttering the softest curious trill, almost too quiet to be heard.

Slowly, Judai lets his fist fall away from his chest. He still aches, throbbing where Yubel’s existence should overlap with his, but he takes advantage of the stunned moment to finally complete his Fusion spell. “Let the winds kick up an undying ember,” he chants, surprised at how steady his voice holds. Green and red swirl together before him, strengthening by the second. “Flame Wingman!”

The stranger jerks in his seat suddenly, as though startled, and turns to look at Judai with wide eyes. In the meantime, the fusion hero appears in a flash of light, hovering protectively between Judai and the stolen monsters. 

“Followed me back in time, did you?” the thief sneers. “There’s nothing you can do; _ your _ era must already be falling to pieces, Yusei Fudo.”

“All because of you!” the stranger — Yusei? — retorts. “Give Stardust back!” 

Stardust Dragon flexes its clawed fingers and rumbles unhappily, recognizing its name. The thief looks to it for a moment, and then considers Judai’s injured form and the light glowing on Yusei’s forearm, as though weighing his options.

“Well, no matter. I have all I came to get, and now this era too will fall,” the thief declares. He lifts a card that Judai _ knows _ is Yubel, and tucks it into his deck.

No, no no no. “Wait!” Judai shouts with renewed panic, and Flame Wingman launches forward with flame trickling out of the red dragon arm’s maw.

The thief laughs as a white bike zips into view from a hidden alley, skidding to a stop beside him. “Wait? You don’t have time to wait, miserable King.” Rainbow Dragon slithers forth to intercept Flame Wingman silently, shielding the thief from the hero’s righteous flames with its own armored body. It remains there, impassive and impassable, until the thief climbs onto his vehicle and takes off.

Stardust Dragon shudders, as though struggling with some unseen effect, but ultimately dissipates. Cyber End and Rainbow follow suit, but by the time Flame Wingman can attempt another attack, the thief’s already vanished with nothing but specks of light left in his wake.

For a moment, silence reigns. The dust begins to settle.

And then Judai says, “Well, shit.” He drops right where he is and sits there amongst the rubble, pressing a hand over his heart. The absence of his dragon still gnaws at his nerves, doubly so now that the immediate danger has left. After a moment, he dismisses his hero, accepting their apologetic remorse with a slight nod. His eyes return to their normal brown as he stops tapping into his powers, exhausted. “That could’ve gone better.”

The sky slowly brightens to herald the dawn, but Judai feels no warmer than before.

Yusei hesitates, and then dismounts his bike to step closer. “Are you alright?” he asks, audibly concerned.

Judai snorts. “I mean, he just ripped my soul in two, so.” He lets his shoulders rise and fall in a helpless shrug, not really expecting him to understand that. “I’ve been better.” 

“He — what?” Yusei’s brows furrow. “But I thought you said nothing could—” He stops, abruptly, and Judai looks up at him with a faintly pained grin.

_ “I _ said something? When?”

“No, I mean… er, one of my friends.” An odd look flickers over Yusei’s expression for a moment, something like exasperation. “He said to tell you hello.”

Judai props up his chin on a hand, amused and all too willing to distract himself from his pain. “And I don’t suppose it has anything to do with that thief mentioning something about _ your _ era. As in, that it’s not this one.” It’s not a question. Judai thinks he gets the picture, in part thanks to the expressive but ultimately untrained shadows curling around the other duelist’s soul.

In contrast to the thief’s existence, which screamed of unbelonging, this duelist’s shadows murmur, _ unexpected but welcome; ally, ours. _

“I’m from the future,” Yusei admits.

“Not that guy’s future, though.”

“He’s further along than I am.”

Judai shakes his head. “He’s not from your timeline at all. Or mine.” He pauses, considering the settling flicker of his shadows. “But yours _ is _ mine, isn’t it? The Gentle Darkness doesn’t see you as an invader, unlike him, so… I’d say you’re further along than me, but he’s from sometime else entirely.” 

Yusei nods, looking like he actually follows that line of thought. Considering how obscure the Gentle Darkness is, never mind its complex (kind of) powers, that should be impossible. It’s not like Judai or his friends plan to announce his existence to the world.

“You _ know _ me,” Judai realizes, his smile a little less pained. “In the future. We’re not just acquaintances, you _ know _ know me. I probably know you too, huh? Uh, knew. Will know?” He wrinkles his nose. “Future me.”

“… Will time fall apart if I say yes?”

Judai laughs. He laughs so hard he can almost mistake the aching hole in his soul for lack of air burning his lungs, and he stammers out a _ no _ through the laughter. “If time was gonna fall apart, it’d be that masked guy’s fault for sure,” he says.

It’s reassuring, perhaps, to know that there _ is _ a future for these worlds. That a future still exists under his reign.

For a moment, he expects Yubel to rebuke him for the negative thought or smugly announce that they were right about his competence, but his head is silent and lonely and he quickly turns his mind away from that line of thought.

It definitely kills his laughter, though. As Judai catches his breath, shoulders shaking with a mix of lingering amusement and remembered pain, Yusei kneels beside him. “Will you be alright?” Yusei asks. “Even with only half your soul?” 

“I’m alright enough to kick that guy’s ass into orbit,” Judai says. Maybe that and no more, but that will have to suffice. In time, his soul will heal — human souls are pretty resilient, nevermind one powered by the nurturing Gentle Darkness — but he doesn’t want it to. Not without Yubel. Not again.

He’d promised, after all.

Judai steadies himself, takes a deep breath, and stands. He can get Yubel back, along with all the other stolen dragons. He _ will, _ and he ought to get started now.

“So,” he says, as Yusei rises beside him. “Got any idea why he took your dragon? Did he take anything else from your time?”

“No, just Stardust. I don’t know why, since all my friends have dragons too. He challenged me, and I accepted, thinking it was just a casual riding duel, but he took Stardust the moment I summoned it.” Yusei grimaces.

Just like Shou, then.

Glancing at the red bike parked to the side, Judai hazards a guess and points at it. “And riding duels are how duels have evolved on those things, I’m guessing?”

“Yeah, it’s called a D-Wheel. They don’t usually travel through time.” 

Judai laughs. “I’d imagine. The masked jerk’s got something weird going on, but I’d assume yours is special because of that red dragon.”

Yusei rolls up a sleeve and shows Judai the smooth mark of a dragon’s head etched in his skin. It’s unfamiliar to Judai, but the shadows at his feet purr with recognition. “We call it the Crimson Dragon,” Yusei explains. “I didn’t know it had the power to time travel until recently, though.”

“Never heard of it, but…” Judai scuffs his shoe on the ground, feeling the darkness ripple contentedly at his touch. “The Gentle Darkness seems to know it. And it kind of seems like it knows me.” Or immediately learned everything about him at a glance, but that option is a bit more unnerving. “I don’t think time travel is a power native to our timeline. Nobody in our twelve worlds _ does _ that, as far as I know.”

Which means that the intruder is an outside force threatening existence, which means it does, technically, fall under the Gentle Darkness’ jurisdiction, and thus Judai’s responsibility above all others.

How convenient that the thief’s already made himself Judai’s _ personal _ business.

“Think your Crimson Dragon can make another time hop with another passenger?” Judai asks. “I need to go after him. Oh — after I fill my friends in on everything, first.”

“That’s fine.”

“Aibou?” he calls, and Winged Kuriboh emerges from its card with a worried chirp. He notices Yusei glance at the direction of the spirit, but then through it, as though he’s sensitive enough to sense something there but not sensitive enough to actually make it out. 

Huh. Strange that Yusei isn’t a fully-fledged spirit speaker yet. Judai hadn’t been able to utilize the Gentle Darkness until long after he became a spirit speaker, so he’d assumed that would come first. 

Maybe the Crimson Dragon does things differently. Maybe the _ future _ does things differently.

Winged Kuriboh hovers close, paw tapping Judai’s nose in concern until he smiles at it. “I’m okay. Can you find Johan for me? And bring him here?”

_ ‘Kuri!’ _ Winged Kuriboh nods and zips off, headed for the outskirts where Johan had last been seen. 

In the meantime, Judai looks back to Yusei. “So, I think the thief said something about your time falling apart? Wanna fill me in on that so I know what to expect when the time comes?”


	3. Chapter 3

**LOAD MORE MESSAGES**

**the gayest around** | _ today at 11:57am _   
the thief got rainbow.

**THUNDER** | _ today at 11:58am _   
… youve got to be kidding me

**fubuki isn’t valid** | _ today at 11:58am _   
are you okay, @the gayest around?

**the gayest around** | _ today at 11:59am _   
physically, yeah. just tired   
judai went after him

**THUNDER** | _ today at 11:59am _   
did he steal your card or did you summon rainbow like an idiot even though we KNOW the thief can steal summons

**the gayest around** | _ today at 11:59am _   
i couldn’t just stand around and do nothing!   
my crystal beasts helped evacuate everyone but cyber end attacked a hospital   
i had to summon rainbow or ppl would’ve died

**dinosaurus** | _ today at 12:00pm _   
and now rainbow’s gone

**enjouyin** | _ today at 12:01pm _   
at least judai’s handled this kind of thing before

**fubuki isn’t valid** | _ today at 12:01pm _   
he’s handled those dragons before, yes   
separately. in a formal duel.   
when he didn’t have to worry about his summons getting stolen   
so not at all like this, actually,

**THUNDER** | _ today at 12:02pm _   
this just gets worse and worse

**cookodile** | _ today at 12:17pm _   
the news cut out. everything still going alright @around to change my name :P @the gayest around?

**the gayest around** | _ today at 12:21pm _   
police made me leave the area, i don’t know   
it’s quieter now.

**mini kaiser** | _ today at 12:24pm _   
cyber end’s still gone.

**the gayest around** | _ today at 12:26pm _   
i know, im calling judai   
his phone’s probably dead, though. if he doesn’t pick up ill senkkl;’

**fubuki isn’t valid** | _ today at 12:27pm _   
uh. you’ll what?

**the gayest around** | _ today at 12:27pm _   
w kuriboh here brb

* * *

“Yeah, and _ his _ response was to back the hell up. A little drama goes a long way,” Judai says, to Yusei’s amusement. He suspects Yusei might already know some of these old stories, but retelling them keeps his mind off the worse parts of the day. “Early on, someone jammed my disk, but I…” He trails off, distracted, and glances at the ground for a moment. Then, he brightens. “Johan!”

Surprised, Yusei turns around — just in time to see the nearest puddle of shadow ripple and expand upwards before falling away, revealing Johan standing there with Winged Kuriboh in tow.

“Judai!” he says, audibly relieved. He hurries closer, taking in Judai’s ragged clothes and various scratches. “Are you alright?”

“Peachy,” Judai reassures, knowing the worst of the damage isn’t visible. He ignores the pointed look Yusei directs at him for skirting the truth, instead pulling his friend into a brief hug.

Winged Kuriboh doesn’t let him off so lightly, however. The spirit trills, indignant and deeply concerned about its human partner, chirping insistently over Judai’s faint sigh.

Johan pulls back slightly at that, a serious furrow in his brow. “Wait, what?” He looks to Winged Kuriboh, and then back at Judai. “Yubel was taken? What happened?”

“The thief took off before I could get any of the spirits back,” Judai admits, his smile fading. “Sorry. Turns out he’s actually time traveller, or a worldline hopper, or something. Ripped Yubel out of my soul with a blank card. I’m really starting to feel what Ryou said about it being even more of a day. Oh, and this is my new friend Yusei, who’s from the future. We’re gonna go after the thief in a sec, I just wanted to fill you in first.” He gestures at Yusei, who nods at Johan.

Johan waves back, but is quickly distracted with assessing the swath of darkness normally wrapped thick around Judai’s soul. He reaches out with his own shadows in concern, trying to soothe the pained flickers of injury lingering over his friend’s being. It helps somewhat, melting away a bit of the tightness in Judai’s shoulders. “Yusei, you said? And the thief’s a _ time _ traveller? Wow, that’s new.”

“Yeah. Thankfully, Yusei’s got a bike and a…” Judai glances at Yusei and shrugs. “Higher power, let’s say. Less latent than the Gentle Darkness. It’ll let us follow him.”

Johan nods, pursing his lips for a second. Then, “Let me come with you.”

“No. No, listen,” Judai pushes on, despite Johan’s clear urge to protest. “This isn’t about me going off on my own again, this is about keeping this timeline intact while I’m away. If the Light takes advantage of my absence…”

“The Light’s gone, and besides, the others can take care of it—”

“Without _ either _ of us? They’re missing most of their aces, and the Ends and Cybers aren’t as powerful without their complete forms, especially when the Ends don’t even have proper cards yet. They’ll need you and your Crystal Beasts.” Judai stares him in the eye, serious. “We don’t know if it’s _ gone _ gone or just scared of me and hiding. I’m not willing to take that risk.”

Johan looks reluctant, but eventually acquiesces. “Oh, fine.” He then faces Yusei with a stern expression, instructing, “Stay _ with _ him, okay? Don’t let him run off on his own.”

“I’m never alone,” Judai throws in.

“You’re more alone than you _ usually _ are. Yusei, seriously — keep an eye on him for us, alright?” 

“Alright,” Yusei says, and his lips quirk upward in a smile, like he’s suddenly been reminded of an inside joke. “I promise to bring him back in one piece.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” Johan leans into Judai for another quick hug, pressing a kiss to his forehead, and then steps away. “I’ll let everyone else know you’re going on a _ grand _ adventure without us,” he adds, much lighter than before.

Judai makes a face. “Don’t, I’ll never hear the end of it,” he complains, but he can’t quite hide his smile. “Watch Pharaoh for me, alright?” 

“You got it.”

Johan stands aside as Judai climbs on behind Yusei. The D-Wheel glows, subtly at first, and then ignites with a spark of crimson. As Yusei revs the engine, Judai meets Johan’s eyes and lifts his hand to his temple in a two-fingered salute, a crooked grin on his face.

And then he’s gone, accelerating through the abandoned streets, the Crimson Dragon surging around the D-Wheel with all blazing star-fire and olden wisdom. Judai tenses, hands fisted in Yusei’s coat, fearing for an instant that its brilliance might burn him. 

It doesn’t. It only nudges at his darkness gently, and when Yusei asks it to take them to Stardust, it howls.

Judai squeezes his eyes shut, but the Crimson Dragon sings at him, tugging at his attention with the gravity of a star spiraling close, an impression of some not-quite-human thought that he thinks might mean, _ Watch me. _

So he keeps his eyes closed but leaves his soul open, and he doesn’t so much see as _ feel _ the Crimson Dragon comb its power against the fabric of this dimension until it finds the injured weak point where the thief had punched through. There, it focuses, claw and talon thrashing, widening the gap enough to push through, carrying the D-Wheel and the duelists with it.

_ Oh, _ Judai thinks amidst galaxies streaking by and existence unfurling before him, the burn of a thousand colors he can see and a million more he can’t. _ Once a time slip is made, opening it again is only a matter of power. _

The Crimson Dragon trills something like affirmation.

* * *

The unfortunate side-effect of following someone else’s path through time, rather than paving their own way through it, is that they will never overtake their target.

When the Crimson Dragon finally emerges from the time slip, there are dragons circling the sky with fire and thunder pouring from their jaws, an attack already in motion—

—but so is Judai.

He leaps off the bike long before it comes to a stop, even before the Crimson Dragon’s flames completely fade from around it. At first, he reaches for Yubel’s wings on reflex, but falters when his soul hits emptiness instead of the familiar presence of his guarding dragon. Too late, he remembers they’re not here. He can’t fly.

It throws him for an instant, but he recovers quickly, rolling into the fall and rising to his feet as he reaches instead for his other partner. “Aibou!” he shouts with the weight of darkness in his voice, and Winged Kuriboh pops into existence in full opaque reality.

The spirit scarcely needs further instruction. It rockets up towards the nearest dragon, the radiant Rainbow Dragon, and shrieks as it’s immediately destroyed by a cascading prismatic beam of light.

However, Winged Kuriboh’s effect kicks in the moment it loses its corporeal form. The sound of explosions dies abruptly as not just Rainbow but _ all _ of the stolen dragons find their attacks dissipating to nothing before reaching any targets.

Yusei looks stunned. “You can _ do _ that?” he says, incredulous.

“No rules in informal dueling,” Judai responds with great cheer, silently thanking his partner as it returns to his deck, faintly battered. He doesn’t mention that Winged Kuriboh itself is a bit special, empowered by a divine feather. “What, future me hasn’t told you about the difference between formal and informal duels yet?”

“You did, you just didn’t demonstrate it to this… extent. But it kind of explains some things,” Yusei muses. He glances upward at the dragons, touching his duel disk with a slight frown. “I should mention, I’m not a psychic duelist.”

Judai blinks, surprised. Even untrained, with how powerful the Crimson Dragon is, he’d have expected Yusei to be unintentionally making monsters real left and right. Unless some of that power is being withheld on purpose.

Still, it’s not an issue. Judai reaches for the shadows experimentally, calling for their help, and is pleased to find that they still respond to him. They recognize the kernel of Gentle Darkness blooming in his soul as the deepest part of their whole, but they’re more sluggish than usual, reluctant to acknowledge him as King.

That’s fine. He doesn’t need to be the full-blown King to conduct a shadow game.

“Don’t worry about it,” Judai tells Yusei. A wave of energy washes outward from Judai in an expanding ripple, the shadows marking the battleground of their newest game. Yusei tenses as they latch onto him, and they even latch onto someone out of sight, dragging the unseen thief fully into the battle and ensuring he won’t be able to escape, wherever he’s hiding. A grin crawls over Judai’s expression as he says, “When you’re ready, summon. They’ll be real.”

Overhead, the dragons snap at each other in frustration, and Judai’s relieved to see Rainbow and Cyber End in their untouched forms. Winged Kuriboh’s effect won’t last for much longer, but it’ll give the screaming masses a better chance of escaping the battlefield before the fight resumes.

The shadow game _ should _ exclude them, which is partially why Judai went for the mild restrictions of a game instead of a completely ruleless informal, but the damage is only faintly dulled unless someone removes the combatants from this plane of existence entirely. To minimize collateral damage, a wide field spell would be best. 

“I don’t suppose you have a preferred field spell?” Judai asks Yusei, drawing his first hand. He figures that if he lets his less-experienced new friend fight on home turf, it’ll give him a much-needed edge. 

Unexpectedly, an itch crawls up Judai’s fingers. He glances down as Yusei hesitates at the question — oh, _ damn, _ he hadn’t taken Yubel’s card out of his deck. He hadn’t even thought of that. The empty card with its empty portrait seems to taunt him, veritably useless without its spirit, and doubly so in a shadow game. All it does is remind him with a pang that he wants them back.

Eventually, Yusei says, “Not in particular… Well, Speed World, maybe.”

“Cool, pass me the card.”

“I don’t have the physical card. And it wouldn’t be great for you.” 

Before Judai can even begin to parse _ that _ revelation (a holo-card like one of Kaiba’s newest duel disk models, then? That’ll make summoning harder for sure), something crashes down on the road behind them.

Both duelists whirl around, and Judai freezes because the monster landing heavily on the ground is none other than _ Yubel, _ their four wings splayed wide, their expression a mask of utter fury.

Judai has just enough time to think, _ thank Osiris they haven’t been turned into a Sin monster or whatever, _ and then Yusei moves to summon something. “Wait!” Judai says, catching his arm. He glances up, double-checking that he hadn’t instinctively summoned Neos yet. “Yubel’s ability—”

The dragon interrupts with a roar, raises a taloned foot, and slams it into the ground. The road crumbles to dust near immediately; having zero base ATK means nothing when you weigh a metric shitton and loom over entire buildings, and that’s the one thing Yubel loves about informal duels.

They don’t look to be in an enjoying mood, though, especially since the two duelists don’t have any monsters out for them to target, and they don’t seem interested in attacking them directly. With another roar, they look around the quickly-thinning streets with something like calculation, and only years of familiarity with their habits tells Judai that they’re searching for something. They stomp around a bit and overlook the duelists entirely, occasionally elbowing buildings and crushing street lights as they go.

Judai ruthlessly pushes aside the strange and frankly nauseating feeling of seeing half his soul on the other side of the battlefield. They don’t even acknowledge him, which hurts more than he’d expected. 

He tears his eyes away and says, “We have to follow them. I can’t let them hurt more people.”

“Their effect is all about battles and battle damage, right?” Yusei asks as Judai hops back onto the D-Wheel. At this point, enough people have cleared out that it’s safe to drive through the streets, and he doubts they’d be able to catch up to Yubel on foot, anyway. “They can’t do anything about spells and traps?”

Judai decides not to be surprised or alarmed by this knowledge, but it’s a near thing. “Yeah. You got an idea?”

“Only a part of one. Kind of.”

“That’s alright, I’ve got one of my own.” A couple of them, even. Super Fusion burns at the top of that list, of course, but he’s reluctant to spend that kind of energy recklessly, especially since he’d just activated it last duel.

He still has the Gentle Darkness’ endless wellspring of power, but using it is much harder without Yubels help. 

Judai glances up at them again, and when they sniff the air and abruptly turn in a different direction, Yusei takes his cue to follow.

Winged Kuriboh’s effect has worn off by now, but the explosions haven’t returned with as much ferocity as Judai would’ve thought. From Yubel’s behavior, he figures that the thief is using the dragons to look for something, but there’s no telling what that target is.

At least, not until they find it.

Yubel leads them to a block where another dragon looms, this one with familiar mismatched features. It’s Light and Darkness Dragon, hissing madly at someone standing in its shadow, someone with a duel disk raised in defense. 

Yubel looks prepared to launch a surprise attack from behind, so Judai aims for them first. He doesn't call out Neos this time, especially since the shadow game will drain him for sidestepping a proper tribute summon, and he doesn’t know if he can afford that right now. He’s not fully recovered from everything that happened in Venice. Instead, he opts for a weaker spirit that won’t inflict as much recoil from Yubel’s effect, should it activate: Dandylion.

The brave little monster appears in a flicker of light and hurls itself in front of Yubel, distracting the dragon from the cornered duelist on the ground.

“Hey, Yubel!” Judai shouts, and one of the heads eyes him disdainfully. The other head snorts as Dandylion charges, bonking its head against theirs — and just as the thorny vines rise around Yubel to catch and redirect the damage, Judai holds up another card. “Effect Shut!” he calls.

Yubel tenses, magic swarming around them. The spell latches onto them in preparation to destroy them, which isn’t the most ideal option, but it’s still better than having them out on the thief’s field. 

Except Light and Darkness Dragon interjects with a screech, the halo of its aura flaring up. A pulse of energy disrupts the spell, leaving Yubel untouched — who then snaps a jaw around Dandylion, destroying the tiny monster in an instant.

A jolt of pain snaps at Judai’s chest, but he grimaces and pushes through it, somewhat relieved that he hadn’t tried that with a stronger spirit. Two small fluff tokens drift down.

“As far as the shadow game is concerned, we’re sharing a field,” Judai informs Yusei, who nods.

Light and Darkness Dragon lifts its head, black and white energy twisting between its jaws, and Judai reaches out with his will in a last resort, trying again to call the dragon to attention even though he doesn’t actually hold any authority in this time, but he can’t just _ let _ Manjoume’s partner kill someone.

The shadows shift.

It’s so slight that Judai nearly doesn’t notice at first, but the shadows pull away from him, their attention elsewhere. Specifically, on the person standing tall before Light and Darkness, illuminated in a thin gold that Judai thinks he should recognize.

Light and Darkness fires its attack, but the fluff tokens are dissolving into bits of shadow for a tribute summon and if Yusei’s not summoning, then that means the other duelist must be—

A very well-known monster swells into existence with the twirl of a purple-black staff, and now Judai realizes he _ does _ recognize this duelist.

Kind of.

There’s something weird with his shadows, a doubling that Judai used to have, actually, which means that while he recognizes the person, he _ knows _ only half.

And suddenly it clicks — why he’d said _ you’ll see me again, _ when passing the crown to Judai.

(Mischievous prick, he thinks, heartbreakingly fond. Couldn’t he just tell him _ normally, _ like a normal person?)

“Yugi,” Yusei exhales, and okay, good to know the original King’s infamy stretches that far into the future.

This… isn’t the King, though. “Not quite,” Judai corrects, and focuses on Yubel. He trusts that Black Magician will be more than enough to take out Light and Darkness, especially since it’s already used its effect. They just need to finish this before any _ other _ dragons catch wind of the duel and decide to join in on the fun. “Come on, Yubel. We’ve already done this before. Isn’t once enough?”

The dragon don't respond, of course. If they had that much self-awareness, they would’ve returned to their rightful partner ages ago. They look to where Black Magician is, a considering look in their eyes, and flames curl out from half-parted jaws as they prepare an attack.

“I activate Scrap-Iron Scarecrow!” Yusei cuts in, and Judai has no idea when he’d set that trap, but it springs up to stop Yubel’s flames from reaching Black Magician just in time. 

Judai grins at him. “Nice,” he says, drawing a card. He glances at it, widens his grin, and then holds it up. Gallis the Star Beast shines from its portrait, its effect activating. Judai’s deck shudders as he focuses on a particular spirit in his deck, funneling his hopes into that one card being the one on top, knowing that if he doesn’t draw what he needs, it’ll backfire. Gallis could self-destruct, and the moment would be wasted.

That said, Judai’s deck has never betrayed him. He _ feels _ more than sees the cards in his deck twist, the shadows singing. When his chosen card reveals itself, the spirit rising from it is none other than Necrodarkman.

That’s exactly what he needs.

The hero nods at Gallis, transforms into a set of five stars between the beast’s wings, and rushes against Yubel. The dragon snarls, flinching slightly as the attack blazes through them, but Judai knows the thief will feel the damage more acutely.

_ That’s what you get for spreading your monsters thin and dueling blind, _ he thinks viciously, and just when Necrodarkman settles into the Graveyard, he pours his energy back into it to call on its effect.

No tribute needed this time, Neos materializes from the card in his hand with a wordless shout — though, having been summoned and released and summoned and released many times in the past few hours, it still arrives with a significant energy drop. Judai grimaces, holding a fist to the accelerating pulse in his chest, but the final card he activates needs no fanfare beyond its activation.

He burns that last empty card in his hand and Super Fusion _ howls _ to life at the sacrifice, catching Yubel and Neos in its bloodstained clutches and dragging them to meet in the center as dark clouds spiral overhead. Yubel thrashes, but their form dissolves into light, unable to escape Super Fusion’s influence. 

There’s no Chain Material to fine-tune the process this time, so Judai shouts through the roiling storm, “With this, the silver hero and dark dragon unite to fulfill the oath from lives past, a promise incarnate. Guardians of our souls, be both sword and shield!”

His words shape the summoning, binding together not just the fusion of the two monsters but his soul to Yubel’s as well, pulling together the pieces until they line up they way they should, before the thief had torn them apart.

A flicker of pain sparks against Judai’s senses and his eyes widen, just before he feels the burning lattice of the Light of Destruction draped over Yubel like a net, and when they meld together the Light sears against his being, burning against the Gentle Darkness like a wildfire devouring dry bush.

Judai chokes on a scream; it’s not as bad as the first time they fused, when every inch of them had been coated in it, but the Light always fights harder when it knows it’s about to lose, especially when its host hasn’t been convinced to follow Judai’s lead.

He vaguely hears Yusei call his name in concern, but all his attention turns inward. It won’t take as long as last time, it _ can’t, _ he doesn’t have weeks to waste here in the past, all he needs is to rip the crumbling pieces of the Light away, drown those embers of hate in the abyssal cry of his shadows pulling everything back together.

_ ‘—dai!’ _ Yubel’s voice cuts in, suddenly clear and strong and wonderful, and Judai sucks in a deep breath for what feels like the first time in years, the numb emptiness in his chest finally falling away to scale and fang and Yubel’s dedication curling around him protectively. The dragon settles back where they belong. 

It’s a weird kind of blissful, like putting on a pair of glasses for the first time. Everything’s in strangely high definition, shadow-wise. He thinks he might actually see a river of crimson splitting into five, two gold auras in dance.

_ ‘Judai, Judai — I’m so sorry, are you alright?’ _

He squints up at… huh, weird. Where’d the Pharaoh come from?

“I will be. Neos Wiseman?” he mumbles, nearly slurring. “Get us out of here.”

_ ‘Of course.’ _

* * *

**LOAD MORE MESSAGES**

**the gayest around** | _ today at 1:38pm _   
they didn’t stick around for me to ask!   
and I didn’t think of it

**dinosaurus** | _ today at 1:38pm _   
it’s TIME TRAVEL, how did you not think to ask??

**the gayest around** | _ today at 1:38pm _   
listen,,

**O’Burn** | _ today at 1:52pm _   
I’m not the only one seeing that ominous crack in the sky, right?

**enjouyin** | _ today at 1:52pm _   
nope

**THUNDER** | _ today at 1:53pm _   
sure wish you were, though

* * *

Judai comes to, slowly.

For a moment, he just marvels how easy it is to breathe, the rightness of completion.

And then Yubel says, _ ‘Planning on getting the other spirits back anytime soon, mister?’ _ Which reminds him that he has things to be doing, and can’t just take a nap the way he wants to.

Disappointing. He groans and turns over — and then jolts upright, spitting out gravel. “Yuck!”

_ ‘Elegant.’ _

“You okay?” a familiar voice asks.

_ Yeah, _ Judai thinks, and Yubel does the mental equivalent of a gentle swat to the shoulder. 

_ ‘Out loud, Judai. These people aren’t bound to you.’ _

“I’m recovering, give me a moment,” he says, out loud. And then he focuses on what he’s actually seeing, making a deliberate effort to switch off Yubel’s keener shadow-sensing abilities. After a moment, his sight resolves to Yusei and Yugi’s faces, who look reasonably concerned as he blinks the orange-green out of his eyes. Finding that equilibrium between his power and Yubel’s again takes a bit longer than he’d like. “Okay. I think I’m good now. What happened?”

Yusei says, “Maybe you could tell _ us _ that. You used Super Fusion, but passed out when you summoned… Neos Wiseman, I think you called it. It picked you up, your other monster picked us up, and right now we’re trying not to get crushed by the other dragons.”

_ ‘You were only out for a few minutes,’ _ Yubel informs. _ ‘I — we — took the liberty of dismissing Gallis and ourselves from physicality once we reached shelter, since you’re exhausted. We’re still around, though. And the thief is using the Light of Destruction even though he’s from a different worldline altogether, but I don’t know how.’ _

“Oh,” Judai says. That’s right, he remembers ripping apart that unstable bright white influence and putting it out with extreme prejudice. He looks up at the other duelists apologetically. “I ran out of energy, basically. Yubel usually helps me filter the Gentle Darkness into something parsable, but without them — anyway, that’s not important. Yugi, do you have Light and Darkness Dragon with you? The one you defeated?”

“How do you know my name?” the not-yet King of Games asks in return, and Judai glances at Yusei. 

“I told him that we’re from different points in the future,” Yusei says. What he _ isn’t _ saying is what impact Yugi has on that future, which is smart, because that kind of knowledge feels kind of dangerous to release into the past.

Judai says, “We run into each other at some point. Helped me out of a bit of a rough patch, actually.”

Talking around the truth feels awkward, and from Yugi’s unconvinced expression, Judai hadn’t done a very good job of it. In his defense, though, he’s still reeling from the fusion _ and _ struggling with the strange urge to kneel. His shadows are weirdly insistent on it. Probably because it’s _ Yugi. _ Who wouldn’t kneel?

_ ‘Me. And you’d better not,’ _ Yubel grouches, ever prickly when Judai isn’t the indisputable ruler. _ ‘Technically, you’re the only titled one here.’ _

_ Uh, the Pharaoh? _

_ ‘Do you see him? No. He’s not here, so he doesn’t count.’ _

Judai feels that this is deeply unfair. _ But nobody sees you and you’re here. _

_ ‘Not to others, I’m not. Not until they cross a line I won’t tolerate. And that’s just how I like it.’ _

“I didn’t find a card or anything when I beat it,” Yugi says eventually, breaking into Judai’s thoughts. “The dragon just vanished.”

Judai takes a moment to remember that he’s talking about Light and Darkness. “It’s probably still in the thief’s graveyard, then,” he muses. “All of the dragons he’s using are stolen from my friends — including one from Yusei here,” he adds, nodding at him. 

“I haven’t seen mine, though,” Yusei says. “He’s only got a few of them out, for some reason.”

“That’s ‘cause it’s a shadow game now.”

Yusei frowns. “Doesn’t that just mean all summoned monsters are real? And that you actually feel the damage?”

Before Judai can say anything, Yugi cuts in. “No,” he says. “Well, it does that too, but it’s mostly about enforcing a couple of rules onto informals. A lot of things are forgotten and abused when you’re fighting for your life, but the shadows force both sides to rein it in. Lighten up the collateral damage. Even out the playing field. That kind of thing.”

“They like exact revenge, not messy, unexpected stuff,” Judai agrees. “That doesn’t mean it doesn’t get bad, though; the thief could probably attack you directly if your defending monsters don’t react quickly enough. It’s mostly a restraint on summons, draws, that kind of thing. I passed out because I, uh, was trying to handle a lot at once with that one spell. Normally, it doesn’t hit me that bad, but I didn’t have Yubel at the time and I wasn’t running the game anymore. Speaking of which, that’s on you now,” he says, nodding at Yugi.

Yugi glances over his shoulder at nothing, or maybe at someone that nobody else can see. “Uh, guess so. It felt kind of weird?”

“Yeah, sorry for ordering them around,” Judai says, because it’s polite to admit that he might have overstepped his authority when the darkness technically bows to a different ruler in this time. “The shadows of this time prefer you over me, and let’s leave it at that. More importantly, Yugi, I think the thief was targeting you to begin with.”

Yubel agrees. _ ‘He wants to kill him. I don’t know why, but that was the goal.’ _

“But why me?” Yugi asks.

“No idea.” He’s certainly got a few theories, though. If the thief knows about spirits and shadows and kings, and if he’s targeting the origin of all those things… “It can’t be good. I mean, he’s kidnapping partners. There’s no excuse for that.”

The building they’re crouched against shudders, and the duelists look up to see a flicker of a metallic tail vanish over the edge of the overhang.

“I should mention,” Judai says, just as a shadow falls over them, “I’m bad at hiding from spirits because of what I am, and Cyber End has piercing power.”

The aforementioned dragon screeches, and the three of them scramble to their feet and dive out of the way as Cyber End bodily slams itself into their hiding space, nearly tearing the roof apart.

* * *

**LOAD MORE MESSAGES**

**the gayest around** | today at _ 2:08pm _   
update: it’s visible from other worlds, too

**D for DESTINY, you guys** | today at _ 2:08pm _   
surprisingly, that doesn’t make me feel any better about it.

* * *

The instant the three duelists emerge into a somewhat more open area, Judai realizes that Cyber End had been deliberately herding them in this direction.

He spots the thief immediately, but thankfully it doesn’t seem to be an ambush.

“There you are,” the thief says, and Judai bares his teeth alongside Yubel at the masked figure sitting astride his motorbike, looking down at them all from the roof of another building across the clearing. “I was starting to wonder where you’d gone to. _ Sin World!” _

The ground shudders, the shadows surging to life, and color leaches out of their surroundings — a key indication of a field spell settling into place — before flooding over with star-studded darkness that almost looks familiar, for all the wrongness woven into the magic. Galaxies drift lazily around them, slowly swirling their way across buildings.

“Ripping off Neo Space?” Judai calls up to the thief, more taunting than truly annoyed. “That’s pretty low of you!”

“Oh, trust me, this is nothing like Neo Space.” The thief scoffs, taps something on his bike, and sits back as the vehicle starts to transform, lifting off its wheels to hover weightlessly in the air. “It’s just to make getting rid of my target easier. Isn’t that right, Sin Cyber End?”

At his words, a flash of power consumes the hovering dragon, which thrashes for a moment before falling still. It remains limp as black and white pieces of armor meld themselves to it.

It’s just like what Judai saw before, but… This time, the Light of Destruction is nearly visible as it swaths the spirit with its power.

Judai scowls up at the lifeless dragon hanging in the air now, all personality drained from its form by the transformation. Out of the corner of his eye, he notices Yugi flicker gold, and the Pharaoh returns to the forefront, gritting his teeth at the sight of the spirit all the same.

“Who are you?” the old soul demands, scowling at the thief. “What are you trying to do?”

_ ‘He doesn’t have the gods,’ _ Yubel notes, taking a moment to peer at the other’s deck from afar. _ ‘I thought they didn’t figure out how anything worked with spirits and shadows until after they started summoning Osiris.’ _

“My name is Paradox. I come from a ruined future, one buried in darkness because of _ your _ actions.”

“Try again,” Yusei retorts. “We know you’re not from our future!”

_ Feeling that something’s wrong with a summoned spirit is more of an instinct than a learned sense, _ Judai thinks back. It’s one of the things that he had figured out before anything else, actually, all the way back when he’d been a baby clutching at Yubel’s card, crying at the overprotective rage pouring out of paper too thin to contain it all. _ But the Light wasn’t there before, was it? The first time we saw that transformation… _

“Perhaps not, but nevertheless they are more similar than you’d think. Always with the shadows, the games, everything that feeds into the greed of humanity and worsens it. Punishment means nothing when the shadows don’t care how bloodstained the hands of their users are. Better that this source of power lay dormant than to let it consume the world in the end.”

_ ‘There wasn’t any Light when we first saw Cyber End turn into a Sin monster,’ _ Yubel agrees. _ ‘I think it might’ve latched onto the thief when we arrived here, in the past. That makes more sense; it’s not defeated at this point, is it? The Light in _ our _ time is handled, but nobody at this point in time even knows it exists.’ _

Yusei clenches his hand into a fist. “We need that power to _ help _ people. When someone makes a mistake, or takes advantage of someone else — whether or not they used duel monsters to do it — the shadows are there to help us make things right. Neo Domino—”

“Ah, yes. Your precious rebuilt city. One step forward after ten steps back,” the thief drawls. “Is it worth the countless people who died when Satellite split off, Fudo? All the people who suffered?”

Judai frowns, trying to think past the talking going on around him. _ Wait, but then do we beat it here? If we push back the Light too early, doesn’t that screw up time for the future? _

“That didn’t happen because of the shadows.”

“Didn’t it?”

“Maybe for you,” Yusei spits, “but this time it was humanity that erred, and that same humanity is trying to put itself back on track. This isn’t your world to intervene in.”

_ ‘Maybe we don’t have to beat it. We just need the spirits back,’ _ Yubel points out. _ ‘If the Light’s smart, it’ll pull away when the thief starts losing. The guy looks barely half a threat when he’s not using stolen spirits. And if we weaken the Light a bit along the way, that might explain why it took so long to pin you down even when I wasn’t around to protect you.’ _

The thief harrumphs. “I see you cannot be reasoned with. Very well. Sin Cyber End, destroy them.”

Judai snaps out of his thoughts at the whine of Cyber End powering up another attack, but Yubel acts first, calling Neos Wiseman and Gallis back to the field. Undeterred, the mechanical dragon fires a set of blasts. Judai grimaces, knowing that Wiseman can’t hold off Cyber End in terms of sheer power, but Yusei interrupts, “Half Shut!”

A veil of light flashes around Wiseman just as the Eternal Evolution Burst makes impact. The attack still hits home, perhaps even harder than it would otherwise, but — to Judai’s pleasant surprise — Wiseman remains standing in the settling smoke. The shadows fluctuate according to Wiseman’s effect and causes the thief to stagger, while Judai actually regains a significant chunk of energy. 

_ ‘Huh,’ _ Yubel says, with hints of begrudging approval. _ ‘He’s not half bad.’ _

“You’re going to need to try harder than that, Paradox,” Yusei says, at which point Judai realizes he must’ve missed the thief introducing himself. And apparently he’d missed the thief _ unmasking _ himself, too, because that’s gone now as well. Not that it means anything; he doesn’t recognize the face. Yusei draws a card and plays it immediately, calling, “Come, Junk Synchron!”

In comparison to the menacing Sin Cyber End, the little mechanical orange spirit that pops into existence on their field seems positively tiny. 

Judai knows better than to judge a spirit by its size, though. Winged Kuriboh’s got enough spunk to exhaust even Osiris, and that little one is even smaller than Yusei’s Junk Synchron.

On his other side, the Pharaoh calls forth Black Magician back into corporeality. Their defense seems a little sturdier now, though Yubel still insists on readying their power in case an attack manages to slip through.

“Am I supposed to be intimidated?” Paradox scoffs, gesturing for his dragon to ready another strike. “None of your monsters can match my Sin Cyber End.”

Yusei glances at Judai. “I wouldn’t be so sure. Judai, mind if I borrow some strength?”

Judai blinks, and when Yusei nods subtly in Gallis’ direction, he grins. “Go for it.”

With that, Yusei calls, “I’m tuning my level three Junk Synchron to Judai’s level three Gallis the Star Beast!”

Confusion flickers against Judai’s thoughts as Gallis cocks its head at the other duelist, puzzled by the command, but he gives it a reassuring mental nudge. _ Go with it, _ he urges, curious as to what this ‘tuning’ would yield.

The beast barks once in acquiescence, and then allows itself to scatter into three glimmering stars that spin around each other for a moment before shooting upward in a line. Junk Synchron likewise dissipates, but instead of stars, turns into a set of three rings that surround the line of stars. An amber silhouette of Gallis gleams into view in the interior.

Through his connection with his monster, Judai feels a resonance tremble through Gallis before its form distorts, matched and built upon by the blazing green rings of Junk Synchron.

“Envoy of the gales, let our wishes cluster into an unbreakable shield to defend our future; become the path its light shines upon! Synchro summon, Junk Gardna!” Yusei swings down his arm and light crashes down with it, summoning a shining new warrior onto the field, all green metal and heavy armor.

“Synchro summon?” Judai echoes, the words a strange shape on his tongue. He reaches for Gallis again, wondering where it fit into this new monster.

It’s not as obvious as with fusions, but Yubel points out the underlying hum of the spirit’s power sustaining Junk Gardna. It’s a weird feeling, but not a bad one. 

Huh. New forms of special summoning beyond rituals and fusions, or maybe less new and more not-yet-discovered.

The Pharaoh glances at Judai. “New for you, too?”

Judai grins. “Yeah, I only work in the same summons you do — very cool, though, Yusei!”

Yusei sends them an appreciative look and adds at Paradox, “Don’t think I don’t see your facedowns along the sides there. I equip Junk Barrage to Junk Gardna, and immediately destroy it along with all of your facedowns with Release Restraint Wave!”

A glow quickly appears around Junk Gardna’s fist, only to immediately erupt into a beam of light that splits apart and shoots off in a rippling wave of power. Each branch of light arches down and pierces into facedowns half-hidden in shadows around the edges of the plaza, shattering the cards.

Seeing as those particular cards happened to be strategically placed in such a way that they surrounded all the combatants, Judai approves of the preemptive move to destroy them. Most traps remain wherever they’re placed, which somewhat limits their scope of effectiveness, but these seemed… oddly connected. He suspects being caught in the middle of them would only be a bonus, rather than a requirement.

The only thing more threatening than a sneaky trap is a sneaky trap consisting of _ three _ sneaky cards surrounding the current battlefield. Judai catches a glimpse of some sinister light hissing, a flash of gold with a glint of ruby, before the cards fully evaporate.

“This changes nothing,” Paradox says, seemingly bored, but Judai’s pretty sure he sounds more miffed than before.

The Pharaoh glances up at Black Magician, but seems to realize that the magician won’t beat the dragon in an outright battle. Unable to do much else at the moment, all he does is set a card, though the determined calculation in his gaze never falters.

Paradox narrows his eyes at them. With a draw and a snap, he sets Sin Cyber End on Junk Gardna, the least visually imposing defender. The dragon rears its head back and screeches, jaws gathering energy. 

“Junk Gardna’s effect activates,” Yusei cuts in, and before the Eternal Evolution Burst hits, his synchro slams its shielded arms together to rebuff the twisted dragon’s attack.

A part of Judai still expects Cyber End to hiss in annoyance, but it remains silent when its attack fails, merely backing away a few paces and furling its wings patiently.

“Is that all?” Paradox mocks, and from the sky a flash of color descends too quickly to defend against, Rainbow Dragon roaring as it finally wings its way to the battlefield and demolishes the synchro monster in a single blow. Yusei flinches back as Junk Gardna shatters. Some debris shoots into the air, clattering uselessly against Rainbow’s scales as it comes to a rest beside Sin Cyber End. Paradox waves a hand at it. “You seem to have forgotten that I have _ all _ the best spirits from the strongest of eras.”

Rainbow Dragon barely has a moment to settle before it twists into black and white energy with a scream, Sin World converting it into a Sin monster as it covers its eyes with newly armored wings.

A memory clips through Judai’s vision, a scene of Rainbow Dark snarling and dripping oilslick goop and shuddering from poisonous corruption that robs it of sentience from the inside out. “Hey, leave Rainbow alone!” Judai shouts, eyes flashing a furious gold. “Having strong spirits doesn’t mean a thing if you don’t bond with them — that’s the first thing any spirit speaker learns!”

Paradox shrugs, setting a card. “Perhaps. But these spirits are at the peak of their power. Why do you think I bothered with taking them from under _ your _ rule, Haou?”

_ ‘He really needs to stop that, the title doesn’t sound right when he says it,’ _ Yubel hisses.

_ Tell me about it. _ Judai doesn’t like the title to begin with, but Paradox inexplicably makes it worse. “I don’t really care about why you went through all that trouble, actually,” he says aloud. “All that matters is getting them back from you now. Neos Wiseman, go!”

The monster leaps into action, targeting Sin Cyber End first — because even though Sin Rainbow’s defense is poorer, Cyber End’s is still within Wiseman’s range, and Wiseman benefits from the challenge.

The Sin dragon scarcely reacts before Neos Wiseman smashes their fist into its center face (Yubel lets out a cackle of delight, beneath it all), and by then it’s already too late. Sin Cyber End thrashes once, making an effort to snap at Wiseman, and then shudders and breaks down when Judai’s monster punches it again, claws digging into the metal with a horrific shriek.

Paradox grimaces, raising an arm to protect himself as shards of Sin Cyber End’s destruction tear through him, ripping through his soul. But despite the damage, which Judai knows from experience hurts like _ hell, _ he remains standing.

In contrast, Judai feels a reassuring warmth well up around him, replenishing a bit of energy.

“That’s the way,” the Pharaoh says approvingly. “And now for the other one!” He extends an arm, and without hesitation, Black Magician leaps up and points his staff at Sin Rainbow. A rush of black magic slams into the dragon, causing its form to distort under a wave of shadowy power until its physical body crumbles away.

Unlike the impassive spirits, who vanished emotionlessly, Paradox starts to look peeved. He yanks out another card and snaps, “Enough is enough. _ Get _ them, Sin Stardust.”

Light streaks down from the distant galaxies of the field spell, forming blue-white scales and smoldering yellow eyes. Stardust materializes with a crackle of twisted power already sinking into its form. Yusei makes a pained sound at the sight of his partner so distorted, and when Judai glances at him, he notices the outline of a dragon head glowing sharply from beneath his sleeves. 

Unfortunately, Paradox is more canny to the rules of informal dueling than Judai hoped. Sin Stardust takes one look at Neos Wiseman and dives talons-first at the _ Pharaoh _ instead, aiming for the much squishier and easier-to-kill human than the powerful fusion.

_ Yubel— _

_ ‘I’m on it.’ _

The fusion moves quickly enough to cut in, along with Black Magician, and Sin Stardust veers off-course before it can slam into either of them and suffer the consequences.

As it turns out, though, Sin Stardust was only a momentary distraction. A tiny shape goes flying up to meet it in the air as Paradox commands, “Sin Parallel Gear, tune with _ my _ Stardust!”

“Fuck off,” Yusei snarls, which Judai feels with all his heart, because same.

Sin Stardust turns into a string of stars within two rings, which in turn morphs into a column of light that rips apart to reveal a _ massive _ dark grey dragon, bigger even than Yubel in their final form. Its eyes gleam as slits of red, its head framed by golden spikes, and before Judai can do anything, its blade-tipped tail whips around and stabs Neos Wiseman through the chest.

A flash of pain ignites in Judai’s chest as Yubel yelps, recoiling, and Neos Wiseman shatters. 

Thankfully, the damage isn’t too bad — in fact, as the shards of light direct themselves at Paradox and slice through him again, Judai’s pretty sure Paradox was hurt by the attack more than he was.

That doesn’t mean he can relax, though. Without Wiseman, their field is suddenly a lot more vulnerable than it was before. 

Paradox recovers from the damage with disappointing quickness, probably because of the godsdamned Light of Destruction working with whatever Sin power Paradox originally had. “I Synchro summon Sin Paradox Dragon,” Paradox declares, just slightly late, breathing quite a bit heavier than before. “And with its effect, I can revive any synchro in the graveyard, which means Stardust Dragon returns to my field!”

_ Did he name himself after that Paradox dragon? _ Judai wonders arbitrarily, keeping an eye on the shimmering white Stardust Dragon as it rematerializes. It’s not in its Sin form, thankfully, though who knows how long that’ll last.

_ ‘Not important,’ _ Yubel murmurs. _ ‘Focus. You just lost Wiseman.’ _

“Yeah,” he says. Then, louder, “And since Neos Wiseman was just destroyed by battle, I can banish Yubel from the graveyard to summon Neos!”

Neos appears in a flash of light, but — to Judai’s surprise — Yubel’s card ejects itself from his duel disk with such force that it flutters through the air for a moment, until he catches it. Looking at it more closely, it seems to be perfectly fine, with the portrait restored and everything. His disk isn’t malfunctioning, either. _ Huh. That’s weird… _

He glances up to hear Paradox hisse in annoyance, and spots a blank card drifting away from him on a breeze. As he watches, the card dissipates into shadow.

Yubel’s rage abruptly slams against him with enough force to make him stumble, all bristling scale and snarling fang, leathery wings flexed in agitation. _ ‘That’s the card that trapped me!’ _

_ It’s… made of shadow magic. Which means, _ Judai realizes, _ they’re intrinsically part of a game, and if they’re excluded from the shadow game, then they’re stripped of their power. That’s good! _

He can use that. _ How _ he’ll use that will have to wait, though, because Sin Paradox Dragon roars, echoed by Stardust’s thinner screech, and their defending monsters flinch back. 

Paradox taps his disk and adds, “With a Sin monster back on my field, I can now activate Sin Claw Stream! Goodbye, Black Magician.”

The spirit only has a second to look up in shock before Sin Paradox bellows, flapping its strangely shaped wings. The gale it creates darkens with power as it slams into Black Magician, blowing the duelists back too for good measure. But before it can destroy him, the Pharaoh shouts, “I activate my trap, Dust Tornado! It destroys your Sin Claw Stream!”

The wind picks up, howling even stronger than the dragon’s wingbeats. A tornado rises from the Pharaoh’s card and crashes into Paradox’s trap, destroying its effect and leaving Black Magician thankfully untouched. The Pharaoh then sets a card, eyeing Paradox with disdain.

“Futile,” Paradox spits. “Attack, Stardust!”

Stardust lunges with a roar, clearly aiming for Black Magician, but Judai intervenes. “Neos!” he calls, and the hero rushes in to intercept, tackling Stardust away from Black Magician. Still, the dragon manages to twist around and catch the hero in its talons, taking only an instant to rip Neos apart. 

Judai sucks in a quick breath as the pain of its destruction tears through him in full force, without Wiseman’s healing factor to ease the sting. Some numbness crawls up his fingers, and this time even Yubel can’t push it back.

_ ‘Pace yourself,’ _ they warn.

_ I know. _

“Judai?” the Pharaoh says. “Thank you, but…” 

“Better to keep your partner around when he’s going after you specifically,” Judai says by way of explanation, and knows it was the right choice from the way Paradox growls.

The Pharaoh nods in understanding. “I won’t let this chance go to waste,” he promises.

Judai grins and gives a two-fingered salute. “I’ll be counting on that. Also, if you — and you too, Yusei — if you guys can find a way to banish the stolen dragons, that will make my job a lot easier. Specifically their original forms.”

Yusei adopts a curious expression, but nods. 

As Stardust roars, circling back towards Sin Paradox, the Pharaoh draws. He glances at the card and smirks. “I might be able to do you one better,” he says, and then, “I activate Bond Between Teacher and Student to summon Black Magician Girl in defense mode!”

Never mind that battle modes are a nonstarter in informals, the younger magician appears and nods at Black Magician in acknowledgement. 

The Pharaoh continues, “With this, I have two spellcasters on my field, so I can activate the Magic Gate of Miracles! This spell allows me to change an opponent’s monster to defense mode and take control of it!”

Judai brightens immediately. Leave it to the Pharaoh to get things done directly, and more quickly than he’d anticipated.

The card rises from its place on the field and flashes, splitting into two portals. One remains in front of him while the other floats over to where Stardust is finishing its looping flight and about to come in for another attack, not giving the dragon enough time to avoid plunging into the void. 

It vanishes from the field for a moment, and then the portal on the Pharaoh’s side of the field shines brighter. Stardust slowly emerges from this portal with a brief shake of the head, rumbling low in its throat as it looks over its shoulder and watches the spell fade. 

“Oh, Stardust,” Yusei says, his voice softer than anything Judai’s heard from him before. “Glad to have you back.”

The dragon leans down to Yusei, then, and gently nudges his side with its cheek. A quiet chirrup leaves its throat before it straightens, focusing on Paradox with a focused hatred and a baritone growl that Judai could feel from a mile away.

The Pharaoh isn’t done yet, though. He holds up one last card, and calmly orders, “Black Magician, Black Magician Girl — attack.” 

Black Twin Burst’s spell card evaporates from his hands and streaks into the two magicians’ staves, which they then cross and direct at Sin Paradox. The dragon hisses and rushes at them, trying to interrupt the attack, but all it does is hurry towards its death; the spell fires with unerring precision, slicing through the dark grey dragon with ease.

It explodes spectacularly, a bellow of pain rising up from the smoke before Sin Paradox crashes to the ground and melts away into puddles of Light, which in turn fade as there’s no longer a monster supporting them.

Paradox wordlessly shouts in rage as the magicians start flying directly towards him next, and even Judai knows better than to get in _ those _ spirits’ way when they’re defending the Pharaoh or Yugi (or, in this case, both). 

But before they reach Paradox, his shadows change. His existence distorts, thinning in the Light that spills through him, all fury and violence and the burning need to destroy. Dread curdles in the pit of Judai’s stomach as Paradox vanishes within a pillar of light, almost like the energy that heralds a synchro summon, but infinitely less kind. Waves of lightning-like energy crackle off of it, forcing the magicians back.

The Gentle Darkness rises as well, but less visibly. It coalesces in Judai’s soul to meet the perceived challenge, and he seizes the moment to draw — though the card nearly slips from his numb fingers as the ground shudders beneath them — but it’s exactly what he needs, of course.

The Light of Destruction shrieks as it expands outward, the pillar growing and growing and growing, and suddenly Judai realizes it’s going to swallow up the whole field.

“Get back!” he calls out to the Pharaoh and Yusei. A primordial protectiveness from the Gentle Darkness spills over from his soul and pours power into the card in his hand.

Oversoul shines bright, the letter O spiraling overhead like a misplaced halo for a split second, and then Neos reappears with a shudder of shadow. The hero swoops down just in time to grab Judai before the Light overtakes him. Stardust does the same to pick up both Yusei and the Pharaoh, and with the latter’s spirits at its side, the dragon takes off away from the danger.

“What’s going on?” the Pharaoh demands, just loud enough to be heard over the rushing wind of Stardust’s wings.

“The Light’s doing something, I don’t—” Judai breaks off, eyes wide, as the column suddenly dissipates.

It reveals what looks like a golden wall, at first. The wall moves, shifting, becoming a graceful arch of golden scale, and then it lifts one end to reveal a massive snout and teeth the size of a grown human. Judai bites back a curse because that is a _ much _ bigger dragon than before. Somehow, it rivals even Ra in size and presence, even though the gods exist beyond physical form. 

Judai suspects its overwhelming scale might have something to do with being powered by a particularly aggressive space-based energy source. It shines with an unnatural light, wildfire destruction in its pupiless gaze as it glares at the duelists fleeing from its range.

A single flap of the golden dragon’s massive wings throws even Stardust off-course, leaving the synchro easy prey for the massive beast to lurch forward and snap its teeth on Stardust’s tail. Stardust screams, kicking out ineffectually, dropping both of the duelists as it cries out.

“Yugi, Yusei!” Judai makes Neos let go of him (he’s fine, Yubel’s back, he’s got wings again) and sends it to catch his plummeting friends instead. Gravity yanks him down to join them but he closes his eyes, steady.

_ ‘Should’ve known that wouldn’t be that easy,’ _ Yubel says, and with a hearty rip, their leathery wings tear through the back of Judai’s clothes again, scattering the shadows that had previously held those holes together. 

He straightens with a flap, feeling their scales push to the surface of his skin as well, talons extending over his fingertips, restoring a little feeling to the prior numbness. A little ways away, he sees Stardust still thrashing and struggling to get free, Black Magician and Black Magician Girl blasting at the golden dragon in an attempt to make it let go, but none of them seem to be having very much success. 

_ This doesn’t feel like the other Sin monsters, it’s too concentrated with Light for that, _ he thinks. _ It feels like… late stage Saiou? _

_ ‘It feels like the Light of Destruction making a takeover bid,’ _ Yubel says. _ ‘I don’t see Paradox, so he might be inside it. Watch out!’ _

Judai flicks a wing to veer to the side more on Yubel’s instincts than anything, and just barely avoids Stardust’s flailing form as the massive dragon flings it away with a flick of the head. 

Stardust tumbles through the air for a moment before managing to catch itself. It looks hurt, its tail nearly torn to shreds with something like glittering dust bleeding out of its wounds, but at least it hasn’t been destroyed. Yet.

In contrast, Neos and the magicians are starting to have some trouble. Black Magician has the Pharaoh on his shoulder, apparently trying to help Neos out with the load, but now he has to deal with Paradox’s dragon trying to eat him alive.

They bolt in Judai’s direction with Neos, who’s holding a distressed-looking Yusei. Black Magician Girl covers their back, firing attacks at the encroaching dragon, but it’s not making much of a dent on those gleaming scales.

Stardust wheels around quickly, calling for its duelist, so Neos flies up to deposit Yusei on its back.

The golden dragon snarls and snaps at Black Magician again, missing when Black Magician Girl slaps it on the nose with a magic blast. Judai thinks he sees her mouth _ ‘Bad dragon!’ _ at it, but that might just be the smoke from all the attacks.

Apparently tired of batting flies from around its head, the dragon rears back, hissing, and a voice rasps out of its throat. “Ssssin Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Sin Red-Eyes Black Dragon, Sin Truth Dragon, attack!”

_ ‘That’s all of them!’ _ Yubel tenses as the other two dragons appear, roaring, their black-and-white armored forms immediately diving to strike alongside the gold dragon. _ ‘All the originals should be in the graveyard now.’ _

Hope flashes up, despite the fact that they’re back to a set of terrifying dragons bearing down on them. Judai flies up and draws, glancing at it as he keeps Neos between him and the aggressors. While it’s not the ideal card, it’s still something he can work with. Not now, but maybe if… 

Sin Red-Eyes chases after Neos and Sin Blue-Eyes after Black Magician Girl, giving the golden dragon — Sin Truth, it called itself? — another clear shot at Black Magician, who determinedly raises his staff in front of the Pharaoh. They can’t run forever; there’s an end to the Sin World, a circular border that would do who knows what if any of the duelists or monsters that tried to escape. 

But before Sin Truth bites down, Stardust sweeps in with a reverberating screech and tackles Sin Truth’s head, crying out with a fury greater than itself. A silvery beam coalesces in its mouth, and the blast that tears out of it skates across golden scales without managing to pierce through. 

Yusei looks like barely a speck on Stardust’s back, clinging on for dear life. 

“Get out of there!” Judai shouts down, calling for Neos to defend them, but the hero’s barred off by a relentless Sin Red-Eyes.

Judai tries to get closer himself, but before he can, the massive dragon snorts, raises its head, and easily throws Stardust off with a vicious shake. Its blood red eyes don’t leave the Pharaoh, even when Black Magician finally sets the duelist down on a rooftop to free his arms and desperately launches another attack. 

Diving closer, Judai blasts past Sin Red-Eyes. The black dragon instinctively spits fire as he passes, but even without Yubel’s full effect, the scales protect him enough that he doesn’t feel the blast just barely scrape past him. Neos matches his speed, spinning around as though ready to fight off Red-Eyes, but actually Judai really needs his monster to stay in one piece for a while, just until he gets a chance to—

The Pharaoh looks up and meets Judai’s eyes. 

Black Magician shouts, caught in Sin Truth’s teeth as he dissolves, but Judai barely hears him, because for someone who forgot how to use his shadows (for someone who forgot _ everything, _ if what Judai knows is right), the precision with which the Pharaoh’s shadows scan his own is beyond impressive. 

Judai is flying too high to cast a shadow, but there is always darkness settled in his clothes and on his skin and he feels a thought brush against him, a flicker of acknowledgement. His voice bubbles up before he can think twice about it, calling, “I activate The Rival’s Name!”

The spell in his hand explodes into light, already knowing which monster he’d choose from his opponent’s graveyard. Sin Truth Dragon seizes for a moment, recoiling, before a rainbow shoots out of its back and pours into the air with blinding brilliance. 

Yubel huffs, because Judai suspects it’ll take a couple lifetimes for them to get over their grudge, but Judai can’t help a grin from spreading wide over his expression as Rainbow Dragon solidifies from the prismatic light, howling and spreading its feathery wings. 

Sin Red-Eyes doesn’t back off, still acting on the last command it had been given and snapping Neos, but Rainbow curves its wings around Neos to shield it from the corrupted dragon’s sight.

It hisses down, flaring its jewels threateningly, and in the moment that Red-Eyes hesitates, Judai soars up. He reaches Rainbow’s forehead and presses a hand there, immediately feeling a purr unfurl against his shadows. “Glad to see you too,” he says, elated beyond words. “What do you say we wrap this up, bud?”

Rainbow hums its assent, and Judai looks back at the Pharaoh, who holds up another spell card. 

“Fusion, activate!”

Black Magician Girl splinters into light at last, unable to fend off Sin Truth and Sin Blue-Eyes at the same time, but before the dragon can push through the empty defense and tear the Pharaoh apart, Judai feels his soul sing in delight. Neos and Rainbow melt into light, and the two streak together in Sin Truth’s face, shoving the massive dragon back like a shield of swirling color. It screeches in protest, but — unable to dig its claws into the growing swirls of silver-gold, it reluctantly withdraws, maw gaping with irritation.

Judai ignores it. “Born of a wish come true, prismatic hope breathes new life into the hero,” he shouts, his voice resounding with the shadows as it cuts through the air. “Descend now, champion of bonds, Rainbow Neos!”

Thick wings tear through the spell, unveiling the fusion at last — Rainbow Neos glows like an angel and looms over buildings, but in front of Sin Truth, it looks barely large enough to stand a chance. 

“I activate Rainbow Neos’ effect!” Judai reaches through the shadows and latches onto a forgotten trap, set too far away to be of any use beyond its first — until now. He glances over his shoulder for a moment and finds Yusei’s gaze, approving and encouraging. “I send Scrap-Iron Scarecrow to the graveyard, and return all of your spell and trap cards to your deck. That includes Sin World!”

In the distance, the sound of a trap shattering goes unheard, but Rainbow Neos’ eyes glow and it lifts an incandescent fist, its power swelling. 

Sin Truth bellows a protest, but Stardust is relentless, returning again to distract it just enough that Rainbow Neos can swing its fist down undeterred.

Unfortunately, Stardust isn’t strong enough to last against Sin Truth and shatters into light, leaving Yusei to plummet out of the sky with a scream. Judai’s close enough to snatch him up before he makes a nasty splat on the pavement, thankfully, but he can tell from how hard he’s shaking that the destruction hurt.

But it won’t be long now.

The moment Rainbow Neos hits the ground, Sin World’s appearance cracks — and the cracks grow, spreading further and further until it reaches the edge of the field spell, and then crawls up the border. Multihued light spills out from the cracks, forcing the fragments away, and the world ruptures beneath them.

Sin Red-Eyes and Sin Blue-Eyes shudder, their armored parts cracking, and even Sin Truth thrashes helplessly in pain. As the clouds in the sky dispel, falling away to reveal a clear blue, the smaller two dragons vanish in the light like a bad dream.

But Sin Truth Dragon doesn’t. It falls a good few stories to crack the pavement with its feet, but it gets up again. White aura flares around it, wildly, and it’s Paradox’s voice that screams out beneath the dragon’s ground-shaking roar. 

Judai’s eyes shimmer back to that pure gold, the Gentle Darkness in his soul reacting to the Light of Destruction straining to hold onto this last form. He sets Yusei on a roof and lands beside him, letting Yubel’s power pull back into their shared soul, retracting their wings and scales. “I activate my trap, Hero’s Rule 1: Five Freedoms,” he says, and the Gentle Darkness surges up.

His trap flicks open, buzzing with power.

“The monsters I choose to banish are Stardust Dragon, Light and Darkness Dragon, Cyber End Dragon, Blue-Eyes White Dragon, and Red-Eyes Black Dragon.”

As he speaks, Sin Truth Dragon recovers enough to lift into the air again — but then it hacks up five tiny slips of paper, pale cards that dissolve into nothing. From four of them, translucent silhouettes shudder into existence, suddenly unbound.

They hover there for a moment, lost, before Judai stretches his shadows towards them to catch their attention, drawing them towards him. Cyber End comes first, followed by Light and Darkness, then Red-Eyes, and Blue-Eyes taking up the rear. Mostly because she keeps turning to glance at Sin Truth Dragon with utter contempt, and honestly, Judai can’t blame her. 

Stardust isn’t one of them, but he thinks it might be the glimmer of starlight underlying Yusei’s shadows, so that one’s already back where it belongs anyway.

Yusei catches Stardust’s card when it flings itself out of his disk, and tucks it into his pocket with a relieved expression. 

Sin Truth Dragon isn’t done yet, though. Fully empowered by the Light of Destruction rather than Sin World, the monster howls its rage and hurls itself at Rainbow Neos, red light coalescing between its jaws. Judai braces himself for the pain of destruction, but the Pharaoh shouts, “Fusion Cancel!”

The red beam shoots through nothing as Rainbow Neos vanishes. In its place, Neos hovers alongside a spinning spell card. The Rival’s Name gleams, flashing back into the form of Rainbow Dragon, who snarls.

“We need to get him out of that form,” Judai says.

Yusei grimaces. “Outright attacks won’t work, it’s too strong. We’re going to need something else.”

Neos is barely a grain of sand compared to Sin Truth, but it does its best to buzz around in the dragon’s face, threatening to poke out an eye.

“I think the Light — what’s powering Paradox — broke the rules,” he says, and looks directly at the spirits hovering around him. “Like, _ broke _ broke them. The only thing it knows is destruction, so I’m not surprised, but that means…” 

“The shadow game’s gone!” the Pharaoh realizes.

Golden scales slam into Neos’ side, and the hero tumbles straight into another blast of crimson and vanishes. Judai grimaces, because Neos is more _ him _ than any other monster he could summon, but it doesn’t carry the same punishment as before.

Yusei acts on first, and just in time, because the sparking red beam that blew apart Neos creates a rippling wave that nearly tears Rainbow apart as well, just for being near. Crimson flares up on Yusei’s arm and for a moment the impression of a massive Crimson Dragon winds itself around him, trumpeting fury at Sin Truth. Apparently, it’s mad enough to afford Yusei what it hadn’t done before: real summons, even without an active game. “Victim Sanctuary!”

In place of the Crimson Dragon, Stardust Dragon solidifies. It roars, shielding Rainbow Dragon with a wing, and then — even as Sin Truth’s power begins ripping its physical form apart — it launches a blast of silvery light that slices right into the patch of ruby embedded in Sin Truth’s chest, trying to pinpoint some kind of weak spot. 

Several flashes of light join its attack as smoke erupts around the collision point; Judai dumps everything he has into the dragons on his side, making each and every one real. Cyber End spits its fireballs alongside Red-Eyes’ darker attack, while Blue-Eyes fires a streak of light too bright to look at directly. Light and Darkness howls, and for an instant Judai hears Winged Kuriboh sing alongside it, and then the dragon launches a twisting beam that explodes with all the other attacks. 

Even Yubel — Yubel, who warns him that this _ will _ put him down if he keeps it up too long but fights anyway when he asks — Yubel stomps the massive foot of their third form, and when Sin Truth tries to throw itself at them with a scream, a thick vine curls around it like an electrified cage and yanks it back. 

When Judai finally lets go, gasping, spots dancing in his vision, the spirits that cannot wound the dragon physically without his help surge forward and tear into Sin Truth’s shadow, ripping up its very being.

Attacking the Light of Destruction directly burns like nothing else, but these dragons are furious enough to endure it, peeling the shell of Sin Truth back with claws and fang until piece by piece it shrinks.

In the end, it’s just Paradox again. Or Paradox-and-Light, maybe, from that thin-pupil look in his eyes as he wheezes and leans against the edge of his transformed motorbike.

The Light fights back, clearing away both the remaining smoke and the spirits with a pulse of crackling lightning. Its intent rings clear as day against Judai’s senses, unmistakable; _ No! No! No! _

“Let it go, you’ve lost!” Judai shouts. Overhead, Stardust reappears in a flash, solid as ever and outlined in crimson flame. Yusei narrows his eyes and his partner lashes out in one final strike, claws slamming into Paradox’s floating vehicle and crushing it to the ground.

Everyone holds their breath. Stardust waits for the dust to settle before pulling its claw away, rumbling unhappily.

And suddenly, Judai feels the weight of expectation settle on his shoulders like an old cloak. He glances up to the Pharaoh in surprise, but the other duelist doesn’t seem to notice anything.

_ ‘Guess they prefer more experienced hands for the finale,’ _ Yubel murmurs, and nudges him forward.

Judai eyes the smoke drifting thinly into the air, phasing through Stardust as it loses corporeality, and exhales a smooth breath.

“Right,” he says, and looks at Yusei and the Pharaoh. “Let’s go.”

* * *

Judai lifts his chin as he stalks closer to the sparking mess of a ruined D-Wheel, shadows thickening and drifting off his silhouette in echo of his movements. 

The still-unbound spirits close in, encircling this fallen host of Light with building ire, but all of them are from a time when Judai still reigns. They hold their urge to strike first, instead waiting for their King to make the first move.

Even Yubel pulls away from Judai’s soul for this, shifting into their second form to complete the circle of dragons, both heads emitting a low hiss that only grows in volume as Judai approaches.

Paradox is injured, though still there, and caught in the middle of pulling himself free of the wreckage. He sneers up at them, but there’s a glaze over his eyes that means he’s looking at shadows, not at the real bodies before him.

In other words, the Light is in control.

Judai doesn’t know exactly when Paradox succumbed to the madness, only that it reached its peak when he summoned Sin Truth Dragon, but anyone in contact with the Light for too long always loses themselves in it. It’s usually not this quick, but he thinks the man might have ushered it along with the strange power of his Sin series.

It doesn’t really matter, in the end. Judai stands tall before him, eyes a smoldering, blazing gold. He says, “How dare you.” 

The Gentle Darkness whispers, _ How could you? _Because what Paradox is, all etched in light and suffused in ruin, is a herald. Or something pretending to be a herald, a foul mimicry of what the Darkness does, a far cry from what Judai is and has become.

Lives can foster creation, but to inject destruction into a living creature and expect it to grow?

_ How could you? _ it repeats.

A snarl tears from the lips of the broken herald, the Light of Destruction in rebellion against its defeat. Paradox lashes out with a bloodied arm studded with light, trying to take out the darkness, the King—

Yubel catches it in a thorny maw from behind, yanking him back, even though they’re not solid. It doesn’t matter; Paradox is more Light than flesh, at this point. 

Judai watches impassively as Paradox thrashes, struggling to escape, blind to Rainbow’s threatening snap of teeth just paces away. He doesn’t seem to notice Cyber End’s furious exhale of hissing steam, or Light and Darkness’ rippling power coiling in preparation to strike, or Blue-Eyes lifting her sharpened claws, or Red-Eyes spitting smoke, seething.

Or even Stardust Dragon, who glows and shakes with the Crimson Dragon’s unspoken fury. Yusei, at its feet, sets a hand on its glimmering scales, but it cannot be appeased. 

There’s only one thing left to do, really. Judai crouches and reaches into the remnants of Paradox’s vehicle, searching more with shadow than his eyes, until he finds a broken compartment with countless cards spilling out. Some of them are a little damaged from the crash, but none of them scream. All the Sin cards are empty without a base spirit to leech off of, even Sin Truth and Sin Paradox. Only one card is currently occupied.

Judai picks up the card holding Rainbow prisoner and rips it in half.

A shudder wracks through the dragon from its place in the circle, a sliver of its power leaking through to reality before its form settles again. Unseen, The Rival’s Name vanishes, only to be replaced by the real thing. 

Yugi (or the Pharaoh, or both, perhaps) steps forward. His silhouette glimmers gold, every inch the ruler from ages past. He says, “Paradox, you came to punish a world for things it has not yet done. Your efforts end here; the shadows take you, as penance.”

It must be force of habit that drives those words, because the shadows themselves only hum faintly in response to the voice. They don’t do anything further, but they don’t have to.

That doesn’t stop Judai from thinking he imagines the flicker of blue-gold-red behind the Pharaoh though. He’s not sure. His attention is wholly focused on the smolder of a dying spark in Paradox’s body, the Light collapsing his soul, unsustained.

“You never did figure out how life worked, did you.” It is not a question, and it is not quite Judai’s voice that leaves his lips. “This would never have succeeded.”

The Light roars, creaking through Paradox’s throat in a pitiful whistle of air. _ It was not supposed to. It was only supposed to destroy. Only destruction; only dust. _

“Still you do not understand,” the Gentle Darkness says, sadly, and — still hanging out of one of Yubel’s maws — Paradox crumbles to ash.


	4. Chapter 4

“Is that… _ healthy?” _ Yusei asks, watching all of the stolen spirits (except Stardust Dragon, who nuzzles at Yusei affectionately and returns to his deck), disappear into Judai. 

Yubel rumbles a laugh before croaking out a rough, “No.” Then, without explaining why, they follow suit and return to Judai’s soul.

In turn, Judai exhales a slow breath, relieved. Yubel’s power keeps the other spirits from treading too close to the more sensitive areas of his soul, stabilizing the overloaded situation somewhat. Then, opening his eyes, he crooks a brow at the concerned-looking Yugi and Yusei. “It’s fine,” he says. “I’ve done it with a light spirit before, and it only scorched me a little. It’s not like I have their cards with me, so…”

“Pegasus could probably make you some,” Yugi offers, but even he sounds not wholly convinced. 

“I’d rather get home and drop them off where they belong,” Judai says, apologetic. Some of these monsters don’t exist in this time yet; he’d hate to introduce them too early. Besides, if he stays too long, he fears he might succumb to the urge to hurl himself into Neo Space and beat back the Light of Destruction problem he knows he’s going to have to suffer through in the future. Or the past, technically, for him. _ Gah. Time travel. _ “Thanks for the offer, though.”

“You’re welcome, but at least take the time to rest a bit, first.” Yugi glances at Yusei. “Both of you look like you’d pass out before getting anywhere on that D-Wheel, and I don’t think falling off will do you any favors.”

Unfortunately, he’s got a point. 

“I guess we should at least pretend to explain the mess, huh?” Judai assesses the cracks on the ground. They’re not too bad, all things considered, but there’s also the whole thing with the remnants of Paradox’s stuff in general.

“Should I… haul it back in time with me?” Yusei asks. He scrunches up his face. “I mean, forward in time. Back to the future.”

Judai shakes his head. “The Light’s all over it. It’s safer if we don’t touch it, probably.”

Yugi says, “Please don’t leave it here, though. I don’t think that technology is supposed to exist at this point?”

“Definitely not,” Yusei agrees.

_ ‘Just yeet it into another dimension and forget about it,’ _ Yubel suggests, and Judai tries not to break into giggles. _ ‘What?’ _

_ Shou’s been rubbing off on you. _ “And that sounds like a bad idea on principle, but we don’t really have any better ones, and it won’t be long before someone comes to check out what happened, so.” Judai glances up. “Was anything special supposed to happen today, Yugi?”

He shakes his head. “Only a showing of the newest duel disk model, with new holograms. Maybe they’ll pass it off as that?”

Yusei gestures at the cracks in the ground. “Solid Vision can’t do that, though.”

“Do you know what the news said about this day?” Judai asks Yusei. He doesn’t, in part because it’s been forever since he paid attention to earthly news, but maybe his new friend is more attentive than he is.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Yusei sends Judai an odd look and shakes his head. “You’d think I would,” he says with a strange amount of dryness, “but no, I didn’t have any reason to look it up. But that also must mean it wasn’t a very big deal.”

“Hm,” Judai says. “And that means they don’t find this. Which means it has to go somewhere else…” Yubel does the mental equivalent of raising a brow, and this time, there are _ more _ spirits who also seem to be in agreement. Red-Eyes in particular thinks it’d be funny, her amusement brushing up against Blue-Eyes’ exasperated impatience. “Yeah, okay. I’ll just yeet it into — I dunno — the desert. Or even the in-between?”

_ ‘Either would work. The Light’s already made its mark in the desert world, so it’s not like there’s anything to disrupt, and the Light can’t do anything in the in-between. But it might slip through an opening, someday.’ _

Yugi squints. “I thought touching it was bad.”

“Oh, I’m not going to touch it. I just need to…” Rather than try to put action into words, Judai just goes ahead and pulls at the shadows. Thankfully, even years back in time, KC is still built on a dimensional instability and close enough to access from this part of Domino City. He closes his eyes as he taps into the Gentle Darkness, pushing past the cottony exhaustion of being overdrawn, and works through the shadows until his power stretches all the way through the darkness towards a portal to the desert world.

And then he pulls the support from beneath Paradox’s bike, letting it drop out of view and follow Judai’s flow of power like a slide until it reaches the end.

When Judai opens his eyes again, everything is a bit blurrier than before, and he feels dizzy, like the air is a little too thin. It takes a moment to push past. “There,” he says, determinedly not swaying on his feet. “That’s done.”

“His powers are weird,” Yusei informs a rather lost-looking Yugi. “Just be glad it worked. We should probably go somewhere to take that break, though. Maybe tell the police one of the duel disks went haywire and exploded?”

“Well, it’s not like there’s any better explanation,” Yugi agrees. “Judai, ready to go?”

“Always.” Then, stopping to actually think, Judai amends, “As long as we don’t run into your friends. Um, I don’t think they’re supposed to know me.” He’d started out as a convenient stranger for them, at least until they started getting more involved with Duel Academia.

Making a time loop stable and stepping lightly is _ hard. _ Judai can’t wait to get back home.

Except he kind of can, because it’s been _ years _ since he’d last seen Yugi, and even though it’s not like they really know each other in this situation, some irrational part of him doesn’t want to go through losing his friend and mentor again.

_ ‘He was never to stay for long,’ _ Yubel reminds, not unkindly. _ ‘Like the Pharaoh, the moment he sealed himself, he set his own fate.’ _

And speaking of that fate. The list of ones worse than death are long and endless, but… 

Judai lets the other two help him up from his crouch beside where Paradox’s D-Wheel once smoldered, and specifically does not look at the soul-gold gleam of the Millennium Puzzle around Yugi’s neck. _ This is for the better, _ he thinks, and tries to make himself believe it.

* * *

Several hours later, after a bit of food and water and exploring old Domino City without being on high alert for an attack, Judai feels quite a bit more rested than before. He and Yusei are now hiding in Yugi’s room while the King-to-be deals with the curious questions of his friends, which hopefully won’t take too long. 

“I hope they’re not sensitive enough to notice me yet,” Judai murmurs. He crumples up the wrapper of a granola bar he’d just polished off and drops it in the small wastebasket.

Yusei blinks. “You mean, because you have so many spirits with you now?”

“Yeah, on top of the whole Gentle Darkness thing. They said they became aware of their spirits in stages, and their spirits will _ definitely _ notice an entity hiding out in Yugi’s room.” Judai eyes Yusei with consideration. “Maybe even you too, actually. The Crimson Dragon’s not too subtle.”

“The Crimson Dragon divides its power, so it’s not as easy to detect. I think.”

Judai figures his future self is probably the one who told him that. Yusei speaks with the slight hesitation of someone who’s mostly rehashing something he heard and isn’t sure what the other person knows or doesn’t know. 

“It’s nice, though,” Judai says. “The Crimson Dragon, I mean. It didn’t immediately burn and paralyze me, so it’s pretty high up there on the Powers I Like scale.”

Yusei snorts, quietly. “Is that what normally happens?”

“You have no idea. The Light, both times, and then the Plana…”

A sudden realization seems to dawn on Yusei. “The police, when we met,” he says, half to himself.

Baffled, Judai cocks his head to the side. The police? As in, the _ earthly _ police? Yubel chortles at that very idea. _ ‘I’d like to see them _ try _ to arrest you,’ _ they sing-song.

“Do I get arrested?” Judai asks out loud, because now he _ has _ to know, but Yusei only laughs softly. “I _ do, _ don’t I.”

“I can neither confirm or deny whether or not you get arrested and become the most carefree prisoner I’d ever met,” Yusei says, fake-serious.

“Wait, but if we met there, then—”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, I’m perfectly law-abiding. This crime mark of bad crime on my face is just a farce.”

Yubel bursts into another wave of laughter, and Judai envies their ability to do so and not be heard, because he has to muffle his own snickers into his palm. Yusei crooks a smile at him, pleased with himself.

They wait for a moment to see if their small conversation has been noticed, but the voices from downstairs have apparently died off. After another couple of minutes, Yugi pokes his head back into the room. “All clear,” he reports, smiling. “Looks like everything’s smoothing over. Nobody saw your D-Wheel, Yusei.”

Yusei sighs in relief. There really aren’t many places to hide a vehicle like his, and he’d been scandalized to hear Judai suggest shoving it into a pile of leaves against a shadowed wall, but hey. What works, works.

“We really should go, though,” Yusei says, with audible reluctance. Judai feels validated that he’s not the only one who’s tempted to stay. “The longer we stay, the higher the risk of a paradox. But thank you for the hospitality.”

Yugi looks crestfallen for a moment, so Judai says, “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. You’ll see me again. Try not to act too casual when you do,” he adds, knowing full well that Yugi won’t remember.

“I’ll try,” Yugi says, and then perks up. “Oh, I have an idea — what’s the date for you guys? The exact day you came from, I mean.”

“No twisting the timeline,” Judai deadpans.

“I won’t, promise. I just think it’ll be cool, and maybe help you out a little!”

Judai exchanges looks with Yusei, and then shrugs. Sure, why not. “Do you want the exact time, too?”

* * *

**LOAD MORE MESSAGES**

**the gayest around** | _ today at 7:38pm _   
hey look, the sky fixed itself!

**cookodile** | _ today at 7:38pm _   
ah, good.   
there goes my sense of impending doom

**THUNDER** | _ today at 7:39pm _   
bet that means judai’s back   
@around to change my name :P hey dumbass! you better have our spirits!

**fubuki isn’t valid** | _ today at 7:39pm _   
holy shit he’s actually online and typing   
HE LIVES

**around to change my name :P** | _ today at 7:39pm _   
okay okay I’m coming!!

**dinosaurus** | _ today at 7:39pm _   
HE LIVES

**around to change my name :P** | _ today at 7:39pm _   
or actually johan’s gonna bring you to me

**mini kaiser** | _ today at 7:39pm _   
HE LIVES!!!

**cookodile** | _ today at 7:39pm _   
HE LIVES

**THUNDER** | _ today at 7:39pm _   
HE LIVES

**Koala-tea art** | _ today at 7:39pm _   
HE LIVES!

**around to change my name :P** | _ today at 7:40pm _   
because I am TIRED   
for osiris sake you guys   
<3

**D for DESTINY, you guys** | _ today at 7:40pm _   
welcome back to our time, nerd   
now i can FINALLY sleep

* * *

**This is the beginning of your direct message history with @Baby Blue Eyes.**

**Baby Blue Eyes** | _ today at 9:00pm _   
hey Yuki, it’s Mokuba   
I’ve got a package for you.   
you don’t really have an address, so just come over to KC when you get a chance and ask for me!

**osiris red is best** | _ today at 9:13pm _   
a package?

**Baby Blue Eyes** | _ today at 9:14pm _   
sealed, direct from the old king of games himself.   
he was super specific with the date and time lmao

**osiris red is best** | _ today at 9:14pm _   
ill be right there

* * *

“So,” Judai says, draped lazily across the couch like a particularly comfortable cat, “how was your trip?”

Yusei sends him a sour look. “Don’t act like you don’t already know. I can’t believe you didn’t _ warn _ us.” He looks over to his less treacherous friends. “Should I even bother telling what happened, or do you all already know?”

The twins giggle, and Crow exchanges a glance with Jack and Aki before shrugging helplessly. “Hey, man, we were curious. Not every day that the world comes falling down around your ears and the _ protector _ of said world just kicks back and opens up a bag of chips.”

“Especially when the Signer marks wouldn’t stop glowing,” Jack says. “He didn’t seem very concerned, for someone who concerns himself with apocalypses.”

“Didn’t even bother to get up,” Aki deadpans, and pointedly looks to the said ‘protector’.

Judai just pops another chip into his mouth and chews thoughtfully. “Didn’t want to mess with the timeline. Causing a paradox — well, an _ actual _ paradox — would’ve been bad,” he says, which makes an unfortunate amount of sense. And then he adds, “Plus I also definitely kind of forgot that this was the date it happened for you guys,” which _ also _ makes an unfortunate amount of sense. “It’s old news for me. Anyway, you wrapped it up before anyone got hurt, so I’d say all’s well that ends well. Good job!”

“Are you complimenting me, or your past self?” Yusei asks.

“Yes.”

“Thanks. You look _ exactly _ the same as back then, you know.”

This time, Judai does roll his eyes. “That’s what sticks out at you? You’ve seen the old pictures of me and my friends.”

“Living it is different from seeing it. Johan was almost as short as _ you.” _

As Judai makes a face at that, apparently disagreeing with the height remark, Rua interjects, “What pictures? I haven’t seen any pictures!”

Judai shrugs. “That’s because Shou’s got ‘em now. I didn’t want them to get damaged, with all the soul-sucking going on.” He glances at Rua, who — along with Ruka — looks supremely disappointed by this news. “… But I can ask him to send a copy over, if you’d like.”

“Please?” Ruka says, employing an utterly unfair set of puppydog eyes. 

“I’ll let him know,” Judai promises, because he’s hopelessly weak for the twins, to their utter glee. “It might take a while, because he’s really tired these days, but—”

The doorbell rings.

“—Oh, hey, it’s here.”

Yusei blinks. “What’s here?”

Judai only laughs, standing up to get the door. “You’ll see.”


End file.
